Christmas at Relena's
by T.D. Winner
Summary: This is the long awaited sequel to "A Weekend at Relena's". It is longer than the first. Reviews would be nice!


Christmas at Relena's

Christmas at Relena's

By T.D. Winner

10-3-01

Note: I still don't own Gundam Wing. It still belongs to Sunrise and Sotsu Agency. Once again, some character bashing. This time, there is some romance in this.

_Special Guest Appearance: Char Aznable_; )

PART I: IT BEGINS AGAIN

Several days after the Gundam pilots returned to the colony, they each received an invitation from Relena, inviting them to her mansion again, this time for the Christmas break. Fortunately for them, they had gotten the presents a few days after they got back. Now all they had to do was gift-wrap them and hand it to the appropriate person. Then there was the matter of tickets. Once again, Quatre had volunteered to buy tickets for everyone, much to the embarrassment of his friends. 

One day, as the pilots hung out at the circus (it was Trowa's turn to have people over), they began discussing what they would do. They all sat inside one of the trailers.

Quatre read from a notebook, "Ok, based on our previous experiences, I have concluded that we should NOT do the following: One, absolutely NO weapons,"

Heero looked at his gun and growled.

Quatre continued, "Two, no shouting, screaming, hitting, or anything that would disturb people on the shuttle." Everyone looked at each other.

"Three, coming with the proper attire and finally four, NO MORE MAKING FUN OF PEOPLE!"

"Aw man." Duo thought, "Now what am I supposed to do for fun?"

Suddenly the door opened and in stepped Catherine, "Hey guys! Soup's ready!" The pilots decided to postpone planning until after lunch. After lunch, the pilots went home to pack.

Then they would all meet by one of the terminals at the spaceport. 

"Hey Hilde!" Duo called as he rummaged through his drawers, "Have ya seen my—wait! Never mind!" 

Hilde tossed Duo's heavy coat on top of him, "Here, now you can go outside and play once we're on Earth."

Duo pulled the jacket off, "Woo hoo." 

A servant walked up to Quatre, "Master Quatre, do you require any assistance packing?"

Quatre shook his head, "No thanks." The servant bowed and left.

Suddenly in came one of his sisters, "Hey Quatre! It's too bad you couldn't spend Christmas with us."

Quatre continued packing, "Yeah, but I still get to spend the rest of the year with you guys, though."

His sister smiled and hugged him.

Meanwhile, Heero was busy figuring out where to put his present for Relena. He had laid the contents of his duffle bag out in front of him: some extra sets of clothes, an extra pillow, his swim trunks, a notebook, and his disassembled weapons. Then he remembered what Quatre said and decided to take out the weapons. After thinking it over a bit, Heero decided just to bring his little pistol instead of all of his bombs and guns. He re packed everything and found a nice spot to put the little gift-wrapped box. 

Catherine walked over to Trowa with her backpack, "Ready, Trowa?"

Trowa looked at his sister, "Hm? Yeah, let's go." He picked up his bag and the two caught a cab to take them to the spaceport.

"Wufei! Hurry up!" Sally called as she ran to the door, "We're going to be late!"

Wufei walked down the steps, holding his bag, "Humph! We won't be late!" 

A few minutes later, Sally and Wufei stood at the terminal that they were supposed to meet everyone at.

Sally looked around, "Uh…do you actually think we're early?"

Wufei studied his ticket and cried, "This is injustice! The ticket says the shuttle leaves at seven, right???"

Sally looked at her ticket, "Uh…yeah, so?"

Wufei continued, "It's recommended that you arrive two hours before your flight right?"

Sally nodded, "Yeah, but what are you trying to get at???"

Wufei pointed to the clock and shouted, " THAT MEANS WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE AROUND FIVE!"

Sally was becoming rather annoyed, "YEAH, SO?? IT'S F---oh crap…four-oh-three…"

Wufei sat down on a nearby bench, "There! Do you see what I mean?"

Sally sighed and sat down next to Wufei, "I guess you're right…sorry, Wufei. It's just that…ugh..." She buried her face in her hands. He thought he heard her sniff a few times.

Wufei paused and looked at Sally, "Um…are you…crying?"

Sally looked up and smirked, "Heh, you wish. I'm just…tired, that's all."

Wufei felt a little remorseful about his actions. He patted Sally on the back, "Why don't you take a nap or something. I'll wake you up when the people arrive."

Sally smiled, "Thanks, Wufei, but I'll sleep once we're on the plane." She leaned back in her seat. The two stared off into space. After several minutes of silence, Sally spoke up, "What do you wanna do?"

"I wanna go home." Wufei muttered. Suddenly he spotted Trowa and Catherine walking over to them, "Ah! Another victim of the madness caused by holiday travels!"

"Hi guys!" Catherine said cheerily as they walked up.

"Hello." Trowa said in his usual voice, "Where's everyone?"

Wufei pointed to the clock, "See for your self! You too, have arrived an hour early!"

Trowa and Catherine looked at the clock. Then Trowa turned to Catherine, who blushed in embarrassment, "Oh! Uh…oops?" Trowa and Catherine sat down and the four began finding ways to help pass the time.

About an hour later, everyone else showed up, "HI!" Quatre said happily as he walked up to the group.

Trowa looked around, "Let's go."

"Trowa! Wait!" Catherine called, "Our flight has been delayed by an hour!" Everyone stopped to look at the nearby screen.

"Oh poo." Hilde said as she leaned against Duo.

Heero surveyed the situation, "We'll have to stay here for the time being." 

Duo shrugged, "Oh well, at least let's get to the gate." Everyone walked off towards the security checkpoint. Like last time, Trowa's hair caused the sensors to do funky things and the Heero showed the guards his fake I.D. This time, Wufei didn't cause any arguments because he didn't bring his sword. The only trouble they had at the security checkpoint was when Duo was stopped because of the hidden items in his hair. It was a minor problem, though and they were soon at the gates. 

Quatre looked at his watch, "Ok, we have over two hours. We might as well sit down and eat dinner." They sent Trowa and Heero to go look for any good restaurants. They returned a few minutes later with their findings.

Heero read the list of restaurants from a map he had gotten. After every name, Trowa called out their opinion of the place.

After a few minutes, Duo spoke up, "Why don't we just buy a big bag of chips and we can all share it."

"No," Catherine said, "Too greasy!"

"How about pretzels?" Hilde suggested.

Duo made a face, "Too hard."

"Too bland!" Sally declared.

"BAH!" Wufei snorted, "Such behavior!"

Trowa looked at Heero, shrugged and sat down. Heero stood there for a few more seconds before sitting down next to Trowa. Since it was the time of year where people travel to be with family, the spaceport was filled with people either going to Earth or to different colonies. The large crowd didn't help relax the pilots, nor the ladies and soon, everyone got on each other's nerves.Suddenly, after what seemed like forever, an hour was up. 

Quatre stared at his watch glumly, "One hour, two more to go…"

Suddenly, to everyone's dismay, a voice came over the loud speaker, "Attention, flight 23-B, bound for the Sank Kingdom has been delayed again for another hour. We apologize for this inconvenience, thank you!"

Wufei finally cracked and cried out, "THIS IS TRULY INJUSTICE! FIRST I GET DRAGGED OUT BY…BY…SALLY, THEN WE END UP ARRIVING AN HOUR EARLY,"

Duo looked up, "Oh…so that's why you guys were here first…hm…"

Wufei continued, "AFTER THAT, MAXWELL HAS TO SLOW DOWN THE PROCESS WITH HIS HIDDEN OBJECTS IN HIS HAIR! 

Duo looked up again, "Hey! Watch it, buddy!"

Wufei ignored the remark, "THEN I HAVE TO BE TRAPPED IN A CROWDED AREA WITH A BUNCH OF STRANGERS FOR THREE HOURS!!!" He paused to catch his breath. Little did he know, everyone was staring at the ranting Wu-Man.

Quatre spoke up, "But Wufei! We're not strangers—"

Wufei cut him off, "SILENCE, YOU!!!"

Quatre snapped, too. He stood up, "YOU BE SILENT! IT'S BAD ENOUGH THAT WE'RE STUCK HERE! I DON'T NEED THINGS TO GET WORSE, YOU HEAR ME??!"

Wufei decided that he had made his point and decided to shut up. Quatre suddenly realized what he had done, he began blushing uncontrollably and he turned around and said to the crowd, "Uh…sorry about that!" He sat down, thoroughly embarrassed. 

Sally nudged Heero not-so-gently, "Hey, Heero, call Relena and tell her we're going to be late." 

Heero awoke from his little nap, "Hn??? Hm…roger." He got up and walked to the nearest pay phone. Suddenly he turned around and walked back to Sally, "Got any loose change?"

Sally blinked, "Huh? Oh! I forgot! You don't have pockets…Hey wait! You have pockets!" Sally pointed to Heero's jeans.

Heero stared, "Yeah, so? It's not like I carry money with me."

Sally shrugged and looked through her purse and pulled out several coins and handed them to Heero, "Here." Heero nodded and walked back to the phone. He inserted the coins and dialed Relena's number. As he waited for her to pick up the phone, Heero noticed the clocks on a nearby wall. According to the one on the far right, it was some time during the middle of the night in the Sank Kingdom. He hoped he didn't' have to wake her up.

Meanwhile on Earth, Relena had been sleeping peacefully when she heard the phone beside her bed ring. She rolled around and turned on the lamp on her nightstand. The sudden light forced her to shut her eyes. By the time she got to the phone, the answering machine (yes, she has one in her room) got it. After going through the message that instructed the caller on what to leave and the beep, she heard Heero's voice growl, "Relena, our flight has been delayed a few hours. We're still stuck in the spaceport. Talk to you later. Good night." He hung up. Relena lay back down in exhaustion. She'd deal with this first thing in the morning.

Heero hung up the phone and walked back to the group. He sat back down between Sally and Trowa. 

Trowa was reading a book when Heero sat down, "Did you get her answering machine?"

Heero stared at the other travelers walking by, "Yeah. She's probably asleep." The next three hours went by painfully, as Duo stared at the clock the whole time. Finally, the announcement came over the loud speaker that their flight was ready. 

One of the airport personnel called out, "Ok, the people with small children may board at this time!"

Duo nudged Quatre, "Hey buddy, you can pose as my son and-"

"Duo! That's not going to work!" Quatre said. 

"First class may board at this time!" they announced. Sally, Hilde and Catherine stood up.

Duo called out, "Hey wait a minute! Catherine's in first class???" The pilots turned to Quatre, who blushed.

"Uh…well, you see," Quatre said uneasily, "I wanted to be fair to Catherine since she couldn't make it last time, so I got her first class tickets…I hope you guys understand!"

Trowa shook his head, "No, they don't understand." 

Quatre sweat-dropped, "Oh well."

Sally waved, "See you guys later!"

"Don't kill each other!" Hilde added.

"Bye!" Catherine smiled. The pilots watched the three ladies walk towards the shuttle.

Finally they called the coach seats. 

Duo grabbed his bag and stood up, "Well, it's a good thing we're sitting in the very back, huh?"

"BAH!" Wufei grumbled, "In the back, it's louder, plus you get your food last!"

"Come on!" Quatre urged, "Let's go!" The pilots presented their boarding passes and as soon as they cleared the door, they bolted towards the shuttle. Once they reached their row, Wufei went in first, followed by Heero and Trowa. Quatre followed, leaving Duo in the left isle seat. 

"Hey," Duo spoke up, "It's just like when we came back!"

Quatre turned to Duo and said sternly, "Remember, Duo, no more making trouble, got that?"

Duo nodded, "Yeah, sure." He stretched, yawned and closed his eyes. He re opened them after several seconds, "Hm…need a pillow…" He began looking around for one of those pillows. Eventually the shuttle took off from the colony and headed for Earth. Soon, Quatre and Duo were sound asleep. Trowa looked at the sleeping two and then turned back to Heero.

"So," Trowa said, "What did you get her?"

Heero smirked, "A necklace."

Trowa raised an eyebrow, "Oh? What did you get Sally, Wufei?"

Wufei turned around, "I got her some cosmetic items."

Trowa nodded.

Heero turned to Trowa, "Trowa, what did you get Catherine?"

Trowa stared at the back of the seat in front of him, "A twenty dollar gift card."

Wufei chuckled, "Ha, that was simple!"

Trowa gave them a wry smile, "Yeah, Catherine's always been a simple person, so I thought a simple present would be fitting."

After several minutes of chatting, the other pilots fell asleep. Meanwhile, up in first class, the ladies were enjoying themselves with a chocolate sundae and some wine.

Catherine sipped her wine, "Isn't it a little late for ice cream?"

Sally shrugged as she scooped up another bite, "Who cares? It's ice cream!"

Hilde smiled, "Yeah! You can't have too much of that!"

Catherine stared at the ceiling, "I wonder how the guys are doing…"

Sally paused, "Yeah, me too."

Hilde put down her glass, "Hey, maybe they're asleep."

Sally smirked, "Yeah, or they're causing another mess, like last time!"

Catherine turned to Sally, "Oh? What mess?"

Sally sighed, "Well, you see…"

After hearing Sally's story, with some help from Hilde, Catherine giggled, "You mean Quatre actually did that? That's soooo out of character! I mean each time he comes over, he acts like such a polite young man and well…it just doesn't seem like him to do such a thing…" Eventually, they fell asleep too. 

PART II: TWO DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS 

The next morning, the pilots awoke, one by one. Quatre awoke to find Duo clinging to his arm and muttering something, "Yay! Ice cream! Ooh…I want that too…"

Quatre couldn't take it anymore. He gently shook Duo awake, "Hey Duo! Good morning!"

Duo lifted his head, "Huh? Whoa! Sorry about that, Quatre!" Duo let go of Quatre's arm. 

Quatre smiled and sweat-dropped, "It's ok, Duo. Uh…what's with you and ice cream?"

Duo looked confused, "Huh? Oh! I must've been talking in my sleep again! Ha ha!" He hit his head lightly. Soon they began to serve breakfast. 

Once again, Duo began singing, "Yummy, yummy, yummy!" as he ate his breakfast.

Quatre looked over at the singing Duo, "Uh…Duo, could you stop that? I mean, it is rather inappropriate and all…"

Duo, whose mouth was still full, shrugged and drank his coffee. 

Suddenly they spotted Sally walking down the isle towards them, "Hey guys!"

Quatre waved, "Hi, Ms. Sally!"

Sally leaned against the back of Duo's seat, "So, you guys didn't fight or anything, did you?" They all shook their heads.

Sally continued, "Uh, did you cause any trouble for the other travelers?" Once again, they shook their heads. Sally shrugged and walked back to her seat. As she walked, she though, "Hm…it's not like them to do that. They're up to something…"

After breakfast, Quatre demanded that Duo use the restroom.

"But, why?" Duo whined as Quatre tried to shove him out of his seat.

"Because," Quatre said as he pushed Duo, "last time you just had to go right when the captain said not to!"

Duo shrugged, "Yeah, so? I had an emergency!"

"That's no excuse!" Quatre said harshly, "I still think you should go before we enter the atmosphere!"

Duo threw up his hands in surrender and as he walked off to the lavatories, he muttered, "Yes, mother."

Trowa suddenly spoke up, "Quatre, are you feeling ok?'

Quatre looked a bit surprised, "Uh, yeah! Why do you ask?"

Trowa folded his arms and closed his eyes, "I've noticed that you've been acting a little tense. Is something bothering you?"

"Uh, no, nothing's bothering me!" Quatre lied, "It's the travel season, you know, people are always on edge when they travel this time of year!"

Trowa nodded, "Hm, I guess you're right…" 

Quatre stared at the back of the seat in front of him. He felt kind of guilty having to lie to his friend, but he didn't want Trowa, or any other person to know that he was actually dreading the trip (no thanks to Dorothy). After thinking for several minutes, Quatre finally decided that he must confront Dorothy. 

Meanwhile, Duo was still standing outside the lavatories, waiting for someone to come out. He would have gone back to his seat, but there was already a line forming behind him and he didn't want to lose his spot. All of a sudden, he got that urge, just like last time. Once again, he tried whistling and staring out the window and once again, he saw the Earth, which reminded him of the ocean, which reminded him of water, which in turn, reminded him of going to the bathroom. Also, the people in the stalls were taking a long time. Duo resisted the urge to bang on the doors, just like last time. 

After waiting several more seconds, Duo couldn't take it any more. Once again, he pounded on both stalls and shouted, "HEY BUDDIES, HURRY UP IN THERE! I'M DYIN' OUT HERE AND IF YOU GUYS DON'T HURRY UP, I'LL END UP MAKIN' A BIG MESS OUT HERE AND IT'S NOT GOING TO BE PRETTY!"

Suddenly a man's voice called from one of the stalls, "HOLD ON! GIVE ME A MINUTE—HEY WAIT! MAXWELL???" The left stall slid open and Wufei stuck his head out.

"Hey! Wu-Man!" Duo cried, "What are you doing on this side???"

Wufei glared at Duo and shouted, "DO NOT DISTURB ME! I AM…OCCUPIED WITH MY CURRENT TASK!"

Duo pointed to Wufei's hair, "Hey! Your hair's down! Ha! You look like a –"

"SILENCE, YOU!" Wufei roared as he slammed the door. Actually, it wasn't really a 'slam'. Instead, Duo just felt the door 'whoosh' past and heard the lock click back into place.

Meanwhile, the other door opened and Heero stuck his head out.

"Hey Heero!" Duo pointed, "What…why are you here?"

"Other stalls were taken," Heero growled as he shut the door.

"Hey!" Duo pounded on both doors, "OPEN UP!" 

Duo heard Wufei shout, "SILENCE!" and heard a loud 'ka-check!' from Heero's stall.

"Oh come on!" Duo thought as he stared at the doors, "Heero's got his gun with him??? Heh, and Quatre said no weapons, too!"

Suddenly the stall to Duo's left opened and out stepped Wufei, with his hair neatly combed and what not, "There! You may…do your thing." Duo quickly thanked him and pushed him out of the way as he ran in and slammed the door. Wufei sweat-dropped and walked back to his seat.

"Aaaaahhh…" Duo said, "Much better…" After washing his hands, he paused to look himself over in the mirror. His braid would need some combing and possibly re-braiding. Duo figured that he'd do that once they got to Relena's. Duo took out a comb and combed his bangs before walking out. 

Quatre turned to Duo, "Duo! What took you so long?"

Duo shrugged, "The Wu-Man took his time, same with Heero."

Quatre leaned past Trowa, "Hey Heero! Wufei! Are you guys feeling ok?"

Heero grunted, "Yeah."  
Wufei looked a bit puzzled, "Why do you ask? I feel fine! Why, I'm constantly keeping in shape and-" Wufei began one of his many rants.

Quatre sweat-dropped and turned back to Duo, "Excuse me, I gotta use the restroom too." As he stood up, Quatre called back to Trowa, "Hey Trowa! Do you need to use the restroom?"

Trowa continued reading his book, "Nope."

Quatre shrugged and quickly got out of the row so Duo could sit back down.

Soon they began to serve drinks.

"Heh," Duo thought as he watched the stewardess walk down the isle with the cart, "Quatre's gotta hurry up otherwise he'll miss getting a drink!" After several minutes, Quatre still hadn't returned. Finally the flight attendant reached Duo.

"Good morning!" she said as she carted up to their row, "What would you like?"

Duo thought for a moment, "Uh…I'll have some orange soda, uh…please!" She smiled and handed him a soda can. Duo looked around and still, no Quatre. As the flight attendant began carting away, Duo suddenly called out, "Hey! Uh…miss!"

She turned around, "Yes?"

Duo pointed to the empty seat beside him, "Can I have another drink? My buddy's in the bathroom and he's gonna want something to drink when he gets back!" The flight attendant checked the cart. There was only one can left and it was cherry soda. Duo accepted it and placed it by his tray.

Eventually Quatre returned from the lavatory. He found Duo drinking his soda while still singing his 'yummy' song when he got the chance.Quatre sweat-dropped, "Uh…Duo…"

Duo looked up from his drink, "Oh! Quatre! Here!" He handed Quatre his soda and continued drinking his orange soda. Quatre stood there in the isle holding his can, watching the others drink and sweat-dropped.

Duo suddenly realized what he had forgotten to do, "Whoa! Sorry, buddy!" Duo got out of his seat so Quatre could return to his. Quatre gave a quick 'thanks' and sat down. After Quatre was seated, Duo sat down and continued drinking. Meanwhile, on the other side of the row, Wufei was sitting there, staring at his empty cup, "Humph! Why did my coffee have to be cold??? Where's the justice in serving cold coffee to thirsty travelers? HUH???" 

Heero glared at Wufei, "Shut up. I got stuck with cold coffee too."

Trowa, who was enjoying his tea, looked at the two and gave them a little smile.

"That's not fair!" Wufei pouted, "Why must Trowa receive the better beverage and I…uh…I mean we must receive the lame one???"

Heero glared at his cold coffee and 'hnnn'ed.

Wufei continued, "Furthermore, these are…are like leftovers!!!BWAAAGGHHHH!!!"

Quatre suddenly called out, "That's enough, Wufei! No more rants or complaints about your drink!"

Wufei, who had become rather irritated, cried out, "THIS IS INJUSTICE! WHO MADE YOU LEADER OF THE GROUP??? BESIDES, YOU'RE STARTING TO SOUND LIKE SOMEONE'S MOTHER!"

Quatre became a little crazy, "WHAT DID YOU SAY???"

Wufei shouted back, "I SAID, YOU'RE SOUNDING LIKE SOMEONE'S MOTHER!!!"

"MOTHER???" Quatre stood up in a rage, "IT'S BAD ENOUGH THAT DUO CONTINUALLY CALLS ME A 'SISSY GIRL' ALL THE TIME! NOW YOU'RE CALLING ME SOMEONE'S MOTHER??? I…I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE OF THIS! I'VE GOT TO GET OUT!!! Heh...heh heh…hee hee ha ha---BWAH HA HA HA !!!" Everyone sweat-dropped as Quatre went into his 'insane' mode again, "I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL!!! WAH HA HA HA!!!"

Trowa looked up, "Hey, Quatre?"

Quatre looked at Trowa, "WHAT IS IT, TROWA???"

"You wouldn't mind stopping, would you?" Trowa said.

"NO! I'M SORRY, TROWA! I CAN'T! I MUST RID THE WORLD OF ALL EVIL ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!" Quatre shouted insanely.

Wufei stood up too, "I AM NOT EVIL!!! YOU'RE INSANE!!! YOU DESERVE TO BE LOCKED UP IN AN ASYLUM!"

Quatre snapped. He some how leapt over Trowa and Heero and tackled Wufei. The two guys began rolling down the isle, while grabbing at each other's throats.

Duo slapped his forehead, "Aw man! There he goes again!"

Trowa whispered to Heero, "You think we should stop them?"

Heero whispered back, "No, let's see what'll happen, besides, isn't this amusing?"

Trowa nodded, "Hm…you're right…" Quatre and Wufei continued to roll down the isle, while still grabbing at each other's throats. Eventually they reached first class and they just happened to stop right at ladies' isle.

Sally stood up in shock, "Dear God! Wufei! What the #&** is going on???"

Wufei looked up and pointed at Quatre, "HE STARTED IT! THE MAD MAN STARTED IT ALL!!!"

Catherine looked over Sally's shoulder, "Ooh! Is Quatre going crazy?"

Hilde held up a pillow to shield her face, "Yeah, and it looks like things are going to get messy!" Quatre shoved Wufei off of him and punched him in the jaw. Wufei responded by tripping Quatre. The two continued to beat the stuffing out of each other, all while the horrified or bewildered passengers watched and Catherine took a few snap shots. Finally, Sally walked up to the two guys and punched them each in the face. Hilde and Catherine decided to help by slapping the two guys several times. The other passengers cheered, applauded, etc., when the two maniacs were finally subdued. The ladies then proceeded to drag the two guys, who had some how passed out, back to their row. 

Heero looked down the isle to see Sally dragging an unconscious Wufei by the leg up the isle, "They're back," He muttered to Trowa. Trowa looked over the seat in front of him and saw Catherine wave, "Good morning, Trowa!"

Duo stood up, "Whoa! What did you ladies do to the poor guys???"

Hilde shrugged and handed Quatre to Trowa, "Nothing, really. Sally just punched 'em once and Catherine and I got to slap them a few times!"

"Ouch." Duo said as he saw the bruise on Quatre's right cheek. 

After Sally sat Wufei up in his seat, she said to the other pilots, "When they wake up, make sure they don't do that again, ok?" Heero, Trowa, and Duo looked at the unconscious Quatre and Wufei, then at each other and then sweat-dropped. 

Meanwhile, Catherine was all hyped up after seeing Quatre go berserk, "Wow! I didn't know Quatre could do that!"

Hilde sighed, "Yeah, well it's kind of common if you travel with these guys. Hey Sally! Does your hand hurt or anything?"

Sally felt her fist, "Nope. I suppose being in the army has paid off!" The other ladies smiled and they sat back down.

About an hour later, Quatre and Wufei regained consciousness.

Quatre rubbed his cheeks, "Ooohh my….I feel terrible…hey Trowa! What happened to me???"

Trowa continued reading his book, "You had a little mishap."

Quatre continued to rub his cheeks, "Oh? What kind of mishap? OH MY GOODNESS!!! WUFEI!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU???" Quatre cried as he saw Wufei sit up in his seat.

Wufei shook his head and rubbed his cheeks, "Heero, who has caused such pain to me, and why???"

Heero stared, "You guys don't remember? Hn….you and Quatre had a little fight and it got ugly."

Wufei brought out a knife from his backpack and stared at his reflection. He was shocked when he saw the bruise on his left cheek, "Quatre did this???" He asked in amazement.

Heero stared at the back the seat in front of him, "No, Sally did."

Wufei jumped out of his seat, "WHAT??? YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT I WAS KNOCKED OUT BY A WOMAN???"

Trowa spoke up, "Actually it was all three."

Wufei turned red with rage and embarrassment, "THIS IS TRULY INJUSTICE!!! HOW DARE THREE WOMEN GANG UP ON ME!!! WHAT DID I DO TO THEM??? WWAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!!!"

Meanwhile, the ladies in first class heard this.

"Ooh!" Catherine said, "Wufei must've woken up!"

Hilde grinned, "Yeah, and I don't think he's too happy about what we've done."

Sally slapped her cheek lightly and cried out in anguish in an attempt to make fun of Wufei, "Ooh! My beautiful face! Whoever has done such an unjust thing shall pay with their wretched lives!" The ladies giggled at Sally's little portrayal.

Soon the shuttle was entering the earth's atmosphere. The shuttle glowed red as the heat from the friction between the atmosphere and the hull began to warm up the shuttle. 

Quatre, who got and ice pack, turned to Duo, "Now Duo, remember what I told you. No sliding down the isle!"

Duo slouched in his chair, "Yes, mother." He muttered. 

"HEY!!!" Quatre cried as he punched Duo in the arm, "DON'T SAY THAT!!!"

"Yes, mother." Duo muttered again.

Quatre became annoyed, "THERE YOU GO AGAIN!!! STOP CALLING ME YOUR MOTHER!!!"

Duo stared at the back of the seat in front of him and smirked, "Yes, father."

Quatre sweat-dropped and sat back in his seat. Eventually they made it through the atmosphere and landed in the Sank Kingdom. Once again, Relena was there to greet them.

"Heero!" Relena called happily as she ran up to hug him. As she hugged Heero, she saw the other pilots walk out. The sight of the pilots caused her to sweat-drop. Quatre and Wufei looked like the two had tried to box while objects where thrown at them. 

"Ms. Relena!" Quatre said, "Good to see you again!" When he noticed Relena sort of stare at him, he sweat-dropped and smiled, "Ah, please excuse our appearance! We uh…had a little mishap and uh…you know."

Relena sweat-dropped, "Um…yeah…oh! This time I arranged for enough transportation for all of you!"

Quatre smiled as he held his ice pack to his face, "That's great, Ms. Relena! Thanks a lot!"

Relena smiled back, "Don't mention it!"

They got their luggage and piled onto a charter bus. They were at the Peacecraft estate in twenty minutes. 

"Hey Quatre!" Duo said as they got off, "Race ya to the front door again!"

Quatre smiled, "Uh…no thanks, Duo."

Trowa walked up to Duo, "I'll race."

"Cool!" Duo said as he adjusted his backpack, "Ok, on three! One two-"

"Three!" Hilde called out. The two guys took off for the front door. About half way towards the house, Heero suddenly caught up.

"Hey!" Duo cried, "You can't join in the middle of the race!" However, Duo used up most of his breath yelling at Heero, so now it was Trowa and Heero running to the front door. Since the two guys were always in shape, due to the fact that Trowa was an acrobat and Heero was the Perfect Soldier, it was pretty much a tie. The two guys leaned against the main door, trying to catch their breaths and all of a sudden, the door opened, sending Trowa and Heero onto the marble floor. 

Dorothy came out from behind the door, "Ooh! Ms. Relena's guests have arrived! I wonder where---ooh! Hello Heero and Trowa!" Dorothy smiled at the two guys lying on the floor, "Please come in!" They got up, grabbed their luggage and walked inside. 

Quatre ran in, "Trowa! Heero! I saw you guys fall down! Are you ok???" 

Heero stared at Quatre, "Yeah."

Trowa nodded.

"Hello, Quatre Raberba Winner," Quatre heard a voice say from behind. Normally Quatre would just simply turn around and slowly back towards Trowa when replying. However, this time, he was stop acting like a 'big sissy' as Duo called him once or twice, and not hide. Furthermore, Quatre ultimately decided that it was rather rude to do that anyways and besides, Quatre was brought up to be a gentleman. He turned around and smiled, "Uh…hello, Ms. Dorothy! It's uh…good to see you again!"

Before Dorothy could reply, Duo burst in crying, "Merry Christmas, y'all! Man! It's cold outside!" When he was met with silence and stares, Duo sweat-dropped and pointed to a corner, "Uh, I guess I'll put my stuff uh…over there. Heh heh heh…never mind." He stood by the stairs. 

Soon, everyone was inside. After they put their presents under the big, fake Christmas tree, they headed upstairs to drop off their luggage. 

Quatre whispered to Trowa, "Hey Trowa, which room do you want?"

Trowa looked around and whispered, "Maybe the one we had last time—"  
Catherine interrupted, "Trowa! Why don't we take this one?" Trowa looked at Quatre, shrugged and walked towards Catherine.

"Hey wait a minute!" Quatre called, "I wanna share a room with Trowa!"

Catherine paused, "Why?"

"Because he's my best friend!" Quatre said.

Catherine was not persuaded, "So? I'm his big sister! I have to make sure he brushes his teeth and doesn't fall out of his bed!"

"I could do that!" Quatre offered, "Besides, Trowa doesn't roll out of bed! Um…do you?"

Trowa shrugged, "Occasionally."

"Quatre, you could come sleep with me!" Dorothy offered.

Quatre blushed slightly, "Uh…Ms. Dorothy…um…it's nice of you to offer…"

Dorothy smiled, "Don't worry! I won't hurt you or anything! Besides," she whispered in his ear, "it gets kind of cold in there and it'd be nice if I could have something warm to hold! Tee hee!" Quatre shuddered when he heard her say that. Since he had no choice and he didn't want to be rude, Quatre accepted Dorothy's offer and followed her to her room on the other side of the hallway. Meanwhile, everyone else was getting settled in.

"Don't knock me out of the bed again, or else!" Wufei warned as he tossed his bag onto the bed.

"Oh yeah?" Sally said as she opened the blinds, "Just what are you going to do? Rant about justice and pay raises until I die of boredom???"

Wufei stopped, "Uh…yes."

Once again, Heero got to share a room with Relena. This time, he tried not to act so stiff and anti-social. 

Heero stared at the bed, "Hnnnn….so, we get to share a bed again….great!" He thought he sounded really stupid when he tried to add some enthusiasm into his voice. Relena couldn't help but smile.

"Heero, which side do you want?" Relena asked as she watched Heero unpack.

"It doesn't matter." Heero said as he stuffed some of his clothes in an empty drawer. 

Relena looked at a nearby clock, "Oh! It's almost lunch time!" 

The two met everyone in the dining hall for lunch. 

"Hey!" Duo called out, "Do we get P.B.J sandwiches again???"

Relena sweat-dropped, "Uh…no, this time you'll get some uh…soup!"

"What kind of soup?" Quatre asked.

Relena thought for a moment, "Um, the uh…canned kind."

"BAH!" Wufei suddenly cried out, "I REFUSE!"

Sally smacked Wufei upside the head, "Shut up, Wufei! Why don't you go cook, then???"

Wufei stood up and declared, "Humph! Fine! I shall cook my own meal!" He stalked off to the kitchen.

Quatre stood up, "Hey, everyone, that's not a bad idea! Why don't we all go and make our own lunch!"

Duo spoke up, "Uh…I don't know, Quatre. Some of us here uh…don't have the uh…proper training." 

Heero nodded in agreement. 

"Ok, I'll cook for you guys!" Sally offered as she ran to the kitchen. 

Relena spoke up in a vain effort to stop them, "But…but…oh dear…"

Meanwhile, Wufei was rummaging through the cabinets, "Hm, this will work…yes, this will work too!"

Sally pulled out a box of oatmeal and some other items and dumped them into a bowl, "Hey Wufei, remember this?" 

Wufei stared at the ingredients that Sally had gathered and shuddered, "You wouldn't dare such an inhumane thing feeding them that!" After a brief pause, he added, "On second thought, maybe Maxwell deserves this, after all. Yessss…"

Quatre walked in, "Oh! Uh…I see you're making lunch for everyone! Uh…I'll leave you guys alone." He walked out. A few seconds later, Trowa walked in and pulled out several potatoes from a cabinet.

"Hey Trowa!" Sally said as she stirred her bubbling pot of 'stuff', "What are you making?"

Trowa began peeling the potatoes, "Baked potatoes." 

Wufei held out a pot to Trowa, "Here, take this."

Trowa took it and said, "Thanks." (Author's Note: Scene inspired by that pic of Trowa and Wufei cooking)

After several minutes, the food was done. Everyone lined up for his or her lunch. 

Quatre held out his bowl, "Uh…Ms. Sally, uh…what is that?" He seemed a bit sickened by the white, bubbling, and hot 'mush' that was in Sally's pot.

Sally, who had an apron and chef's hat on, scooped up some mush and slapped it into Quatre's bowl, "Here ya go, Quatre!"

Quatre stared at his bowl in a mix of horror and curiosity. To be polite, he accepted it and moved over to where Trowa was fanning his potatoes.

"What the #%$ is this?" Duo cried as he stared at his bowl, "Army feed???"

Sally smiled, "Yep. KEEP THE LINE MOVING!" Duo walked off with his bowl of mush. Soon, Sally was getting grumbles from people as they walked up to her, "Eat, it's good for you!" Sally said as she plopped another pile of mush into Heero's bowl. 

"This is what they teach you in the army?" Hilde grimaced as she received her mush, "Blowing up stuff, shooting people and making slop???"

Sally shrugged, "Hey, you guys didn't want soup, so there!"

Duo walked up to Wufei, who was inspecting his hard-boiled eggs, "Hey Wu-Man, uh…I'll try one of those."

Wufei scooped up an egg and placed it in Duo's bowl of slop, "Hm, I see you have a sample of Sally's cooking. Good luck."

"Thanks, man." Duo muttered as he stalked off to a table.

Eventually they served everyone. However, Trowa had only baked four potatoes and the people were stuck with either Sally's slop or Wufei's hard-boiled eggs.

"Pleeeeeease!!!" Duo begged, "C'mon Trowa! I wanna potato!!!"

Trowa, who was not amused, reached behind him and grabbed a piece of cardboard. With a marker, he wrote 'Sold Out' and set it up by his tray. 

"NNNNOOOOOOOO!!!" Duo clutched his head in anguish.

"Oh hush!" Hilde scolded, "Just be glad I didn't cook!"

Duo stopped whining, "Oh…yeah. How do you eat this $#!* anyways?" He said as he tried to scoop up some mush with a fork. 

Quatre whispered, "Try a spoon!"

"How about a straw?" Hilde suggested.

Suddenly everyone saw Trowa sitting in a corner eating one of his baked potatoes, with two more on his plate. Everyone stared at their bowl of mush or hard-boiled eggs in Quatre and Duo's case, and then stared at the two potatoes on Trowa's plate. Then they looked at each other. Then all of a sudden, there was a mad rush as everyone scrambled to get Trowa's remaining potatoes.

Heero got there first. He stabbed the potato with his fork and was immediately tackled by Duo. 

"Gimme, gimme, gimme!" Duo cried as he tried to pry the fork from Heero's iron grip.

Meanwhile, Dorothy was about to grab the last potato when Trowa stabbed it and began eating it. Everyone looked at Trowa and then at Duo and Heero fighting over the potato.

"Stop it!" Relena cried, "No fighting!!!"

Finally, Duo managed to pull off a chunk and ran off to the other side of the room, "Hee hee! Success!" He tossed the chunk into his mouth. 

Heero sat down and took a bite out of his potato. Then he noticed Relena. He handed the fork to her, "Eat." He growled.

Relena looked at the fork and blushed, "Oh Heero! Uh…I can't! It's your food and—"

"EAT!" Heero glared. Then he added, "It's…good for you."

Relena sat down and began eating Heero's potato.

Quatre called out, "Hey, you know what? Wufei's hard-boiled eggs aren't that bad!" Everyone ran to Wufei, who was in the process of eating the last one.

When he saw them, Wufei held up the piece, "So, you want this? Hm… bow before me!"

Duo called out, "No way! You bit out of it!" The crowd dispersed. Wufei shrugged and finished eating his egg.

Sally sighed, "My cooking's not bad! It's the food that's bad!"

Catherine patted Sally on the back, "It's ok, they'll see. Someday…" 

Meanwhile, Duo, who was still hungry, decided to eat or drink his slop in one gulp or slurp. Since it was cold, he decided to warm it up in the microwave. However, he let it sit too long. When he pulled it out, it was stuck to the bowl. He held the bowl upside down but the slop remained in the bowl. Then he stuck a spoon in the side and tried to pry it out. It flew out of the bowl, bounced off the floor, and right in front of Relena, who screamed insanely.

Duo stood up, "Cool! It turns into Silly Putty when it's heated!!!" 

"WHAT???" Wufei cried, "YOU MEAN YOU WERE FEEDING US SILLY PUTTY THE WHOLE TIME???"

"NO I WASN'T!!!" Sally denied, "I DIDN'T KNOW IT COULD DO THAT! HONEST! I MEAN NONE OF MY SOLDIERS EVER BOTHERED TO HEAT IT UP!!! BESIDES, WHY SHOULD YOU CARE??? YOU JUST SAT THERE EATING YOUR HARD BOILED EGGS!"

Wufei shrugged, "So?"

Duo gathered everyone else' slop and dumped it into a big bowl. He then microwaved it and soon, Duo was making demented figures and little balls out of his new toy.

"BAH!" Wufei growled as he watched Duo play, "How immature!"

That afternoon, Milliardo and Noin arrived. 

"Ms. Noin!" Quatre called happily, "Good to see you again! Oh! Uh…hi, uh, Mr. Zechs."

Noin sweat-dropped as she waved, "Uh…hi, Quatre!"

"Hi, kid." Milliardo muttered. Soon the pilots became restless and Duo grew tired of his 'silly putty'. They lay there on the couch, staring at the ceiling.

"What do you wanna do?" Duo asked in boredom.

"I dunno." Quatre replied, "What do you wanna do, Trowa?"

No answer.

Duo looked over at Trowa, "Heh, the guy's asleep!"

"No I'm not." Trowa murmured.

"Yes, you are!" Duo argued as he flopped down onto the couch.

"Why don't we meditate?" Wufei suggested.

"Uh…yeah, sure…whatever." Duo said as he sat up. Everyone closed their eyes and relaxed. Little did they know, Relena and Noin were watching them.

"Awww…" Relena said as she watched them meditate, "Doesn't Heero look cute when he's sleeping?"

"Ms. Relena," Noin whispered, "I think we should leave them alone."

Relena continued watching Heero, "Wait, I want to watch Heero just a bit longer!"

Suddenly Wufei cried out, "WHAT??? SPIES??? INJUSTICE!!! CAN'T A PERSON HAVE SOME PRIVACY???"

"Hmmmm…" Duo said as he sat with his arms and legs crossed, and eyes closed, "I'm getting a strange feeling….there is a great disturbance in the Force…" Suddenly he opened his eyes and cried out, "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES, MAN! IT'S THE EVIL WU-MAN!!!" As Duo got up, he knocked over Quatre, who in turn, knocked over Heero.

"I AM NOT EVIL!!!" Wufei pouted as he grabbed a pillow.

"YES YOU ARE!" Duo shouted back as he grabbed another pillow.

Suddenly Relena called out, "WAIT! STOP!!! NO FIGHTING!" Duo and Wufei paused to look at her, "PUT DOWN THOSE PILLOWS!!! IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A PILLOW FIGHT, DO SO WITH YOUR OWN PILLOWS! AND BE SURE NOT TO HURT ANYONE!!!" 

Duo and Wufei put the pillows back, dejectedly, "Yes, mother," Duo muttered.

"Bah!" Wufei growled. After Relena left, the boys once again became restless.

Seeing that everyone was bored, except Trowa, who was still sleeping, Quatre suggested that they go back to the indoor pool.

"Let's go," Heero mumbled as they walked upstairs to grab their swim trunks. 

Several minutes later, the pilots assembled at the indoor pool. 

"Man, why did the pool have to be away from the house???" Duo complained as they ran towards the indoor pool. 

"Hey wait!" Quatre cried, "There's a section that connects the pool to the house!" 

Everyone stopped, stared at the little walkway and sweat-dropped. 

"BAH!" Wufei shouted, "Why hasn't anyone seen that???"

Everyone shrugged. After feeling a cold breeze, they ran into the indoor pool and immediately headed for the water.

"Hey! We were here first!" they heard a voice cry out as the five boys jumped in.

"My hair!" they heard another voice say as they were splashed.

Duo looked up, "Huh???"

"Ms. Noin!!!" Quatre cried out happily. His smile sort of shrank as he saw Milliardo run his fingers through his hair.

"Hm, my hair's ok…" Milliardo said as he examined his hair.

The other pilots looked over at Noin and Milliardo.

"Hello." Trowa waved.

Noin sweat-dropped, "Um, guys, could you—"

"It's ok, Ms. Noin!" Quatre interrupted. He then turned to the other pilots, "Ok, guys, we'll have to stay on the far side!"

"Why?" Duo called out.

"To give Ms. Noin and uh…Mr. Milliardo some privacy!" Quatre said.

"Uh, hey kid," Milliardo muttered, "Call me something else, ok? Only Dorothy refers to me that way."

Noin shuddered slightly when she heard the name 'Dorothy'. Ever since Dorothy met Milliardo, Noin had felt that Dorothy would someday steal Milliardo from her. 

Quatre thought for a moment, "Um…can I call you um, Mr. Zechs?"

"Fine." Milliardo said gruffly.

"Hey! Helmet Man!" Duo called out.

Milliardo turned around, "What?"

Duo shrugged, "Nothing! Just wanted to see if you'd respond to that!"

The other pilots waded to the other side of the pool.

"Hey Heero," Trowa said, "Race you to the other side."

Heero looked at the other side and said, "Roger that." They waded to one side of the pool and got ready to swim.

"Ready?" Quatre called out, "GO!" Trowa and Heero swam off as fast as they could.

As the two swam past Duo, he waved and said in a bored manner, "Yay, Heero. Go Trowa…woo hoo…" Soon Trowa and Heero reached the other side. They both surfaced and grabbed the edge of the pool. 

"Hey Trowa!" Quatre called out as he waded towards them, "Who won??? Was it—WWAAAAAAGGHHH!!!" Quatre suddenly cried as he went off into the deep end. 

Trowa looked at the little sign right by his arm, "Hm…ten feet…Quatre!" He dove in and swam after Quatre. Heero followed.

Meanwhile, the spot where Quatre used to be was now replaced with a bunch of bubbles and occasionally a flailing arm.

"Oh dear!" Noin said as she watched in horror as Quatre tried to reach the surface, "Zechs, we should do something!!!"

Milliardo looked at her and said, "Uh…we do?"

"Hang on, buddy we're comin'" Duo cried as he waded to where Quatre was.

"I'll help, too!" Wufei declared as he waded after Duo.

Soon Trowa and Heero pulled up Quatre.

"Hey Quatre!" Duo cried, "You're ok---WOOPS!!!" Duo too, fell into the deep end.

"Oh no!" Quatre shouted, "DUO!!!"

Duo's head popped up, "Huh?" 

"Don't do that again!!!" Quatre cried as he flailed his arm. His other arm was around Trowa's shoulder, which was holding him up.

"Yes, mother!" Duo said as he splashed Quatre.

"Hey! Cut it out!" Quatre cried as he splashed Duo back with his free arm. 

"Come on. Let's go to the shallows." Heero said, "You guys can splash all you want there."

"OK!" Quatre said happily as he let go of Trowa and began doggy paddling to the shallows.

"Oh my!" Noin whispered to Milliardo, "Look at him go!"

Milliardo, who had dozed off, suddenly looked up, "Huh? Oh…that's nice…he could use a bit less sugar, though…"

"Zechs!" Noin slapped his shoulder, "That's mean!"

"It's the truth." Milliardo said, with his eyes closed.

Once Quatre got to the shallows, he and Duo began splashing each other, while the other boys raced each other from one side of the pool to the other. Eventually, they got tired of swimming and five soaked and freezing bodies ran to the changing rooms. Once they were done, they ran back to the house, via the newly 'discovered' passage, and took a nice, hot shower. It was a good thing too, for it was almost dinner. Relena had told them that they could dress casual.

"Ok, now we get to eat rich-people feed!" Duo said to Hilde.

"Oh hush!" Hilde muttered. She was too tired to put up with Duo's wisecracks.

Everyone sat down and soon they received their meals.

"Yummy, yummy, yummy!" Duo sang to himself as he cut his steak.

"Duo!" Hilde hissed, "Stop!"

"It's ok," Quatre whispered, "It doesn't bother us!"

Hilde sighed and whispered to Duo, "Ok, fine, you can sing tonight, but no singing for the next two days, got it?"

"Okey-dokey!" Duo said happily as he raised his fork and knife above his head.

Hilde blushed insanely. Normally, if they were at home, she would have giggled at Duo's childish ways, however, they were eating at someone else' house. She dismissed the thought after concluding that Duo was only excited about Christmas, after all, who wasn't? After the peaceful dinner, everyone just walked around, or went out onto the balcony to look at the stars.

"Hey Heero," Quatre whispered, "Meet me at the balcony. I have something for you!"

"Roger that." Heero grunted. The two proceeded outside and found a little spot in the shadows, on the other side.

"Ok, here!" Quatre said quietly as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

"You shouldn't have." Heero growled as he took the paper, "Merry Christmas to you too."

Quatre smiled, "I'm glad to see you've finally developed a sense of humor Heero. However, that's not a present. Um…think of it as uh…a mission."

Heero walked towards the nearest lamp and opened the piece of paper, "Suggestions on Behaving Properly for Relena, by Quatre Winner," Heero read to himself. In parenthesis under the title was the phrase 'a.k.a. operation daylight' after reading the title, Heero turned to Quatre, "Operation Daylight?"

Quatre smiled and sweat-dropped, "Oh, uh…I couldn't come up with a good mission name. I'll do better next time!"

Heero nodded and continued reading. The paper listed ways on how to be a gentleman and other stuff you'd normally associate with Quatre, minus the apologizing before you kill someone and some other minor things. After several minutes, Heero folded the paper up and put it in his jeans' pocket, "Thanks." Heero and Quatre walked back inside.

Relena was there on the balcony waiting for them by the door, "Heero! I was looking for you!"

"Really?" Heero tried to sound surprised.

She smiled, "Yeah!" She gave a sigh, "Isn't it lovely tonight? The sky's clear so you can see the stars!"

"Yeah and it's cold out here." Heero growled.

Quatre decided to leave them alone, "Uh…I'll um…excuse myself…"

As soon as she heard the door shut, Relena put her arm around Heero's waist and rested her head on his shoulder, "Heero? Aren't you cold? I mean, you're wearing that…shirt from two years ago!" 

Heero, who didn't seem to care, said, "No, it's…ok…as long as you're here to keep me warm."

Relena smiled and the two stood there on the balcony for several more seconds until a strong wind blew and sent them running back inside. 

"Isn't that cute?" Dorothy said to Quatre as they saw Heero and Relena walk back in.

"Uh…yeah…very cute…" Quatre stuttered. The teacup in his hand quivered as he spoke.

Dorothy saw this, "Are you cold, Quatre?"

Quatre suddenly stopped quivering, "Uh…no…I…I just…um…oh my!" He noticed that his whole body was starting to quiver. He set his teacup down on a nearby table so he wouldn't spill it.

Dorothy leaned closer to him and whispered, "Are you afraid, Quatre?" 

"Uh….no! Um…why should I be??" Quatre said as he began blushing. 

Dorothy put a hand on Quatre's shoulder, "But you're quivering! Tell me what's wrong! Maybe I can help. Tee hee!"

Quatre snapped. He toppled over onto her lap and wailed, "Ooh! I'm sorry, Ms. Dorothy! I didn't mean to be rude! I'm…I'm just….I'm afraid of…"

"Of me?" Dorothy asked quietly.

"No," Quatre lifted his head. His face was red from embarrassment, "it's just that…that…that…." He suddenly remembered his promise to stand up to Dorothy, "IT'S YOUR EYEBROWS!!! THEY FREAK ME OUT!!!"

Dorothy was taken back by shock, "WHAT??? YOU MEAN MY BEAUTIFUL EYEBROWS ARE FRIGHTENING???"

Suddenly from the other side of the room came Duo's voice, "Yeah! They're freaky!"

"BE QUIET!" Dorothy snapped. She turned back to Quatre, who was still sprawled over her lap, "It's ok, Quatre," she said soothingly as she stroked his head, "I'll fix that if you want."

Quatre, who was still red from embarrassment, said softly, "No…I…I'm in no position to tell you how to groom yourself…." With that, he got up, straightened up his shirt, grabbed his teacup and walked off to where Duo and Trowa were standing. 

Meanwhile, Dorothy went up to Sally and asked, "Excuse me, but is Quatre right? Are my eyebrows….freaky?"

Sally sighed and put a hand on Dorothy's shoulder, "Girl, they can be horrifying at times." 

An hour later, everyone went to bed.

PART III: CHRISTMAS EVE 

Like last time, no one really slept well. 

"Ooh…my stomach…" Hilde groaned as she got out of bed. She looked back at the still sleeping Duo, sprawled over the bed, with his mouth open while snoring, "He's gotta stop doing that…" 

In Dorothy's room, things were different. Dorothy awoke to Quatre hugging her like a stuffed toy. When she tried to get out of bed, he just clung tighter. Dorothy looked at the sleeping Quatre and sweat-dropped.

"Hey Wufei!" Sally whispered.

"What is it, woman?" Wufei responded, his eyes still closed.

"Ok, I'm going to get out of bed. You stay there!" Sally said as she carefully pulled the blankets off of her and began crawling towards the end. Unfortunately, she crawled over his foot, which just happened to be on that side. Wufei jumped and let out a yelp, which sent Sally tumbling onto the floor.

Sally got up and rubbed her head, "HEY! WUFEI! WHY THE HECK DID YOU PUT YOUR FOOT THERE???" 

Wufei sat up and yelled back, "WELL, EXCUSE ME, WOMAN! HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT YOU WERE CRAWLING THAT WAY???"

"IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO GET OUT OF BED WITHOUT KNOCKING YOU OUT!!" Sally shouted. They began having another "lovers' quarrel".

"Trowa!" Catherine said as she shook Trowa, "Trowa! Wake up! It's already seven thirty!"

Trowa rolled over onto his side in his sleep, "Fine." He said in a muffled voice. He removed the blankets and slowly got out of bed.

"Ok, now brush your teeth and uh…do your hair!" Catherine instructed. Trowa ran his fingers slowly through his bangs. They were still nice and pointy but it lacked that shine it always had. 

"Ok, I'll…shine my bangs…" Trowa said. He walked off to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Relena had been awake for the last hour, trying to loosen Heero's grip around her, "Heero!" she gasped, "Please! Not so (gasp) tight! I can't….breathe!!!"

Heero grunted in his sleep and buried his face in her shoulders. 

Relena was turning red and was also beginning to sweat, "Heero!!!" She finally resorted to desperate measures. She somehow managed to free an arm and she conked him on top of the head. To her surprise, he cringed and clung harder, causing her to gasp, "Heero!!! Stop it!!! Let go!!! HEEEEEERRRRROOOO!!!!" She cried. Suddenly Heero opened his eyes and let go. He sat up and ran his hand through his messy mop of hair, "Darn," he muttered, "I was having such a nice dream…hnnnn…" 

Eventually everyone went downstairs for breakfast. 

"I get the jelly donuts!" Duo called. He stopped when he reached the breakfast table.

Sally looked up from her donut and said, "Uh…sorry…I took the last one."

"AGAIN???" Duo cried, "Why??? WHY???"

"It's ok, Duo," Quatre said as he patted Duo on the back, "You can have toast, just like everyone else!"

"Great." Muttered Duo.

Meanwhile, Catherine watched in shock as Trowa drank his fifth cup of coffee, "Trowa! You shouldn't drink so much coffee! It's not good for you!!!"

"One more cup," Trowa said as he refilled his cup and drank.

"Oh Trowa," Catherine sighed, "Too much is bad for you, besides, leave some for the rest of us."

Trowa shrugged and drank the rest of his coffee.

After breakfast, the pilots sat around the big, fake tree, staring at the presents.

"Hm…I wonder what's inside…" Wufei said ponderously as he gently shook a box.

"Wufei!" Quatre cried, "Put that down! It's not for you!"

"I'm just curious!" Wufei said as he continued to inspect the other presents.

"This…is mine?" Heero said as he picked up a box no bigger than a box of Pop Tartsã.

"Ha ha! Heero's got a box of cereal for Christmas!" Duo snickered, "From Relena, too!"

Heero stared at the box for a few more seconds and then put it down.

"Oh my…" Quatre said as he held up a medium sized box, "I wonder who could have given me this?"

Trowa stood up, "Let's go do something else."

Duo stood up too, "Like what? Play with our Gundam action figures?"

Trowa raised an eyebrow.

Duo sweat-dropped, "Uh…ok then…uh, why don't we…uh…I don't know! Quatre! What do we do now???"

Quatre thought for a moment, "Swimming?" Everyone shook his or her heads, "Um…I don't know then…"

"Bah!" Wufei suddenly cried out, "We should meditate! That will bring us some answers!" Everyone shook his or her heads again, "Humph! Well then what do suppose we should do then?" Everyone turned to Heero.

Heero glared, "Must…destroy….something..."

Duo shrugged, "Hey, that works, but what?"

"Uh…why don't we socialize with the other guests?" Quatre suggested.

"Like who?" Duo asked, "Dorothy is freaky, Noin's too obsessed with Helmet Man to bother with anything else, and uh….the butler guy's boring!"

"What about Catherine?" Quatre asked.

Duo thought for a moment, "She's cute—oops! Uh…I mean uh…." Duo turned red as Trowa looked at him, "Uh…heh heh heh…sorry about that, buddy!"

Trowa sweat-dropped and shrugged.

"Bah!" Wufei suddenly cried out, "We must find something to do, otherwise, we shall go insane!!!"

"THEN WHAT DO WE DO???" Duo shouted.

"Humph! We meditate!" Wufei said as he went into his 'meditation mode'. 

Suddenly Relena walked in, "Excuse me boys, I couldn't help but over hear! If you guys want something to do, why don't you go and shovel the drive way?"

The pilots, excluding Wufei, who was still meditating, walked over to the window and looked out. They sweat-dropped when they saw the enormous drive way.

"Uh…we have to shovel…that?!" Duo said.

Relena shrugged, "Well, it was only a suggestion!"

Heero looked at her, "Mission accepted." He walked out of the room to get his jacket.

"Uh, wait up, Heero!" Quatre called after Heero, "Come on, Trowa! Let's go help Heero!" Trowa shrugged and walked after Quatre.

Duo walked over to the still meditating Wufei and spoke, "Uh…hey! Wu-man! You going?"

"Humph! Why should I go?" Wufei said with his eyes closed, "We already have three people volunteering to freeze their butts off, just so they can shovel some snow!"

"Uh….yeah, you've got a point….but hey! It's snow! How could you not like snow???" Duo cried.

"Bah!" Wufei managed to say.

"Fine! Be that way!" Duo said as he walked out of the room, leaving Wufei alone with Relena.

"Um…aren't you going to join your friends?" Relena asked.

Wufei opened an eye, "Hmmm…I see they've all left…"

"Well, if you don't want to shovel snow, then perhaps you'd like to join us for a cup of tea!" Relena smiled.

Wufei was horrified and slightly taken aback. He slowly got up and headed for the door, "Hmmm…perhaps some crisp winter air would do me good…yesss…."

Four minutes later, the pilots, plus Milliardo, were all bundled up and in the garage, getting their shovels.

"Bah! I feel like…like an over-weight penguin!" Wufei said as he waddled around in his heavy winter outfit. 

"It's ok!" Quatre said from inside his unusually large parka, "I feel like I'm inside a big fuzzy fortress!"

"I feel cold!" Duo whined.

Trowa handed Duo a shovel, "Here, Merry Christmas."

"Why thank you, Trowa!" Duo said in mock appreciation as he took the shovel. 

"Hey kids, don't get lost out there, ok?" Milliardo said as he grabbed a shovel.

"Let's go." Heero growled. The garage door opened and out stepped six fur coat-clad figures, waddling towards the massive drive way.

"Well, here goes!" Duo said as he 'ran' onto the driveway. Actually it was more like a slow jog, since there was at least two feet of snow on the ground.

"Hold on a second!" Quatre called out, but it was too late. They all heard Duo cry out, "WAAAAGGHH!!" and saw him slip and a hidden patch of ice, and roll down the driveway.

"DUO!!!" Quatre cried, "Hold on, Duo! We're coming!" He began clearing a path with his shovel. The other pilots joined in. However, Milliardo just walked down the slope, dragged Duo to his feet and led him back to the top.

"Wow! Jeepers, mister Helmet Man! You saved me!!!" Duo said in a little kid voice. He gave Milliardo a hug.

"Ok, kid, that's enough!" Milliardo said as he pulled Duo off of him.

Meanwhile, the ladies had pulled up chairs around the large windows and were observing the guys working in the snow.

"Awww…don't they look so cute!" Catherine said as she gazed out the window, watching the pilots shovel snow.

"Do you think it's too cold outside?" Relena asked no one in particular.

"Hey…that looks like fun." Sally said as she watched Quatre roll around.

"Oh Zechs…" Noin sighed as she watched Milliardo shovel some snow into a pile.

"Ooh…maybe I should go join them! Tee hee!" Dorothy giggled.

"I hope Duo doesn't bash anyone with his shovel!" Hilde said worriedly.

"Too late." The other ladies said in unison. Hilde sighed and sweat-dropped. Everyone moved closer to see what was going on.

"MAXWELL, THIS IS INJUSTICE!!! HOW DARE YOU THROW SNOW ONTO ME!!!" Wufei roared, "FURTHERMORE, YOU ALMOST BASHED ME IN THE FACE, YOU RECKLESS MORON!"

Duo blushed and sweat-dropped, "Uh…oops? WAAAGGHH! HEY YOU DON'T HAVE TO DUMP SNOW ON ME TOO!!!" The two pilots began dueling with their shovels. 

This continued for several minutes, all while the other pilots watched and Milliardo shoveled. Finally Heero managed to stop the two by hitting the two with snowballs.

"Ooohh!!! So ya wanna fight with snowballs, eh?" Duo said as he scooped up some snow and molded it into a ball, "Well, take this!" Duo chucked the snowball at Heero. Instead of ducking, he just simply held up his hand and blocked the snowball. Suddenly Duo felt the impact of another snowball on the back of his head.

"HA! Justice has been served!" Wufei shouted triumphantly, "BWAGH!!!" Wufei suddenly cried out as another snowball hit him. He turned around, "Who did that??? WHO???" Another snowball hit him from behind, "MAXWELL!!! HOW DARE YOU ATTACK YOUR ENEMY WHEN HIS GUARD IS DOWN!!!"

"Hey!!! It wasn't meeee!!!" Duo said. He pointed to Trowa and Quatre, "Look at them! They're the ones with snowballs in their hands!!!"

Wufei looked at Quatre and Trowa and rubbed his chin, "Hmmm…you are right, yesss…" He reached down and made another snowball. All of a sudden, the five boys began throwing snowballs at each other in a messy snowball fight, all while Milliardo continued shoveling.

"Ohh…poorZechs…" Noin said as she watched Milliardo shovel snow, "He doesn't seem to have time for fun…"

"Go, Duo!!!" Hilde cheered.

Meanwhile, Milliardo was hard at work shoveling snow, "How come those kids just had to have a snowball fight now???" he thought. After shoveling another pile, he decided to get a bigger shovel. However, he soon discovered that snow blower in the corner. A deviously mischievous smile spread across his face as he powered up the blower.

"Ooh!!! There goes Zechs! I think he's gonna join the snowball fight!" Noin cried.

"Hey! What's that he's holding???" Sally called out in surprise, "A flamethrower???" The ladies watched in horror or amusement as Milliardo turned on the blower and began blowing large amounts of snow onto the unsuspecting Gundam pilots.

"That's cheating!!!' Hilde cried out.

"All's fair in love and war! Tee hee!" Dorothy giggled.

Meanwhile, the pilots scattered while trying to return fire with little balls of snow.

Quatre and Duo managed to hide behind the hedges.

"Aw man," Duo gasped as he tried to catch his breath, "no one saw that one coming!"

"Yeah…we've gotta get inside!" Quatre gasped as he began making some snowballs, "Ok, on the count of three, we run to the garage, ok?"

Duo shrugged tiredly, "Yeah, whatever."

Meanwhile, Wufei had somehow climbed up a tree and was pelting Milliardo on top of the head with snowballs, "Ha ha! Face the wrath of Wufei!!!" Suddenly Milliardo pointed the blower up and snow was blown at Wufei, "WAAAAAGHHH!!! INJUSTICE!!!"

Heero, meanwhile, had taken the opportunity to make several snowballs and to sneak up onto Milliardo. With a single motion, he pegged Milliardo on the back of the head and took off for the hedges.

"Ok, ready Duo?" Quatre said, "One, two, three!!!" The two pilots burst out of the hedges only to run into Heero. The three of them fell behind the hedges, "Heero! Duo! Are you guys ok???"

Heero sat up, "Hnnnn…."

"Ow, man." Duo said as he rubbed his head.

"Oh my goodness!" Quatre suddenly cried out, "Where's Trowa???"

At that moment, Trowa was inside, drinking coffee, while wrapped in a blanket, sitting beside Hilde and Catherine.

"Trowa, you should take a hot shower after this!" Catherine said, "Also, be sure to dry your hair, otherwise you'll get a head ache!"

Trowa nodded and sipped his coffee.

"Hey, I think they're done!" Sally called out. Everyone moved to the window to see Milliardo standing there, holding the snow blower, looking triumphant.

"Where are the pilots?" Noin wondered.

"Hey look! Wufei's fallen out of his tree or something!" Hilde pointed. Actually, Wufei had climbed out of the tree and was lying face down with a snowball in his hand, waiting for someone to walk over, preferably Milliardo.

"Oh dear, I hope Heero's ok!" Relena said worriedly, "I mean, all he has is that jacket that I gave him! Plus he has that pair of Trowa's pants…"

All of a sudden, the ladies, plus Trowa, saw Duo, Quatre and Heero run out from behind the hedges and pelt Milliardo several times and then grabbed their shovels and headed for the garage. Milliardo soon followed, leaving Wufei still lying on his face in the snow.

"Hm…where has my enemy gone?" Wufei wondered as he lay there all by himself. He remained that way for several more seconds before getting up. Seeing that no one was outside, he decided to head in. After taking a hot shower and changing clothes, the pilots sat on a couch in the library with their cups of coffee, or tea in Quatre's case. 

"Hhheh heh…" Duo shivered as he held his cup of coffee, "That…was fun…"

"Bah!" Wufei grumbled. Since his face was in the snow a few minutes before, it was now red, much to everyone's amusement.

"Heero, are you still cold?" Relena asked as she sat beside him.

"No." Heero said gruffly. He glared at Milliardo, who was being tended to by Noin. Relena noticed this.

"Milliardo," Relena said sternly, "that was not a very nice thing to do!"

Milliardo looked up, "Hm? Well, the pilots were asking for it."

"How so?!" Duo called out.

Milliardo closed his eyes and smirked, "By simply annoying me with your little snowball fight and not shoveling."

"Bah! Injustice!" Wufei declared, "We shoveled! The women saw, right?"

"Sadly, yes." Sally nodded. The other ladies nodded in agreement.

Milliardo continued, "The whole point of going outside this afternoon was to clear the driveway, right? Well, you pilots did do that, for only three minutes. Then you," he gestured to Duo, "had to start the whole snowball fight by dumping snow on him." He gestured to Wufei.

"Uh…don't you know our names?" Duo asked in confusion.

Milliardo ignored him, "Pretty soon, all of the other pilots stopped working and began pelting each other with balls of snow!"

"Zechs, stop making such a big deal out of this!" Noin said, "Besides, they're still just kids! You can't blame kids for having fun can you?"

Milliardo opened his eyes and glared at the ground, "Hnnnn…but they should learn to be more responsible…"

"Is that your justification for attacking innocent people when they've done nothing wrong???" Relena suddenly cried out.

"They have done something wrong!" Milliardo said, "They left me there to do all of the shoveling while they ran around having fun!"

"Hey man, being pelted by Heero is no fun!" Duo said as he shook his head, "No siree!"

"Yeah, and sitting up in a tree wasn't much fun either." Wufei glared.

"You seemed to enjoy blasting them." Trowa suddenly spoke up. When everyone looked at Trowa, he just simply drank his coffee.

"Zechs, is that true?" Noin asked in astonishment.

There was a slight pause.

Dorothy spoke up, "If I recall, I saw Mr. Milliardo ran up onto their little battlefield in an almost, how shall I say this, eager way, hm?" She smiled deviously. Everyone turned to Milliardo, who began to blush. He closed his eyes again and growled, which caused Dorothy to giggle, which in turn, caused Noin to shudder.

Finally, Duo blurted out, "Oh come on, Helmet Man! Just admit that you had fun blasting us with the snow blower!!!"

"No." Milliardo grumbled.

"Zechs! What's gotten into you?" Noin said, a bit frustrated.

"Ms. Noin," Quatre spoke up, "um, I have a possible explanation for all of this." When everyone looked at Quatre, he continued, "You see, it's Christmas Eve and Mr. Zechs is excited about Christmas. In fact, he's so excited that he becomes impatient. As we all know, when you're impatient, you are very likely to blow up at the slightest things."

Noin's eyes widened, "Really?"

Quatre nodded, "Uh huh, furthermore, this behavior is most common in…" he paused for a dramatic effect. Unfortunately, Trowa beat him to the punch.

"Children." Trowa stated flatly. Once again, all eyes were on Milliardo.

"Milliardo! I cannot believe this!" Relena scolded, "You accuse the pilots of being lazy when they actually did work! Then you call their little activity childish only to have yourself act like a little boy!!! Shame on you!!!"

Milliardo blushed insanely and said, "Well, look whose talking…"

"What do you mean???" Relena demanded.

Milliardo managed a faint smirk, "Look at you! You're constantly following Heero around wherever he goes. Don't you find that a bit childish, if at all…obsessive?"

Now it was Relena's turn to blush insanely, "I AM NOT OBSESSED!!!" she pouted, " AND I DO NOT STALK HEERO!!!" she glared accusingly at the other people in the room, who just sweat-dropped. Relena continued, "THE ONLY REASON WHY I FOLLOW HEERO AROUND OCCASIONALLY IS BECAUSE I CARE FOR HIM!!!"

"That's your lame excuse?" Milliardo smirked.

"Zechs! That's enough!" Noin said sternly, "I think you and Ms. Relena should…take a time out!"

Duo stood up and cheered, "Yeah! Time out!!!"

"Time out! Time out!" Sally, Catherine, and Hilde began chanting. This caused Milliardo and Relena to blush even more. 

"Ok, let's go!" Duo said as he grabbed Relena's arm and began pulling her towards a corner.

"Let go of me!!!" Relena screeched. She reached down, grabbed a pillow and bopped Duo in the face.

"Duo!!!" Quatre cried out. He walked over to see if Duo was ok.

During the confusion, Milliardo tried to make his get-away but was stopped by Heero, "You're going to time out." Heero glared. Milliardo just glared right back.  
Noin grabbed Milliardo's arm, "Come on, Zechs, you need to calm down!"

"I don't need to calm down!' Milliardo protested as he struggled to free himself of Heero and Noin's grasp.

"Ooh!!! I'll join too! Tee hee!" Dorothy giggled as she walked over and began grabbing at Milliardo.

"Bah!" Wufei muttered, "Such immature behavior!"

Trowa nodded.

Meanwhile, Catherine, Sally and Hilde had already dragged Relena to a corner.

"Ok Relena, you stay here for um…fifteen minutes," Catherine instructed, "when your time is up, come tell us what you have learned what not to do!"

"Yeah, and I'll keep track of the time!" Sally said, "Hey! Wufei!!! I need your watch!!!" Catherine, Hilde and Relena sweat-dropped, "Wufei! Wufei, get your butt over here now!!!"

"I'm coming, woman!" Wufei yelled back as he made his way to the corner.

"I need your watch!" Sally said.

"I don't wear a watch, woman!!!" Wufei snapped.

Sally blushed, "Oh…oh yeah…I'm the one who wears the watch…" She looked down at her left wrist, "Ok, fifteen minutes start…now!!!"

"Have fun, Relena!" Hilde smiled as she turned Relena around.

Meanwhile, Heero, Noin and Dorothy were busy grabbing Milliardo, who began flailing about, "Come on, guys! Get off!!!"

"Never!" Duo cried as he joined the mess, "Not until you go to time out!!!"

"Stay out of this!" Milliardo snapped.

"Weeee!!! This is fun!!!" Dorothy squealed with excitement.

Noin tried to calm Milliardo down, "Zechs!!! Zechs! Stop it!!! Some one might get hurt!!!"

"Ow!!!" they heard Duo cry out. They all looked at him. 

He simply blushed and shrugged, "Uh…sorry. I uh…just stubbed my toe on the…table…yeah…ok! Time out for Mr. Helmet Man!!!" He leapt onto Milliardo's back and began messing up his hair.

"Hey! Stop, kid!!! Leave the hair alone!!!" Milliardo cried as he tried to get Duo off. The other three people stepped back to watch this slightly amusing spectacle.

"What's going on?" Relena asked as she faced the wall, "Are Milliardo and Heero fighting???"

"Nope! Duo and Zechs are fighting! Sort of…" Catherine said. 

"Bah! Those…guys are bound to break something!" Wufei muttered.

Relena heard this and cried out, "Milliardo!!! Stop this madness at once!! Do you hear me??? Milliardo!!!" She turned around to try to stop Milliardo but she was stopped by the three ladies.

"Uh-uh-uhhh!!!" Sally said as she helped to hold Relena, "Your fifteen minutes aren't up yet!!!"

"Let go of meeee!!!" Relena cried as she struggled to free herself, "Heero!!! Heero!!! Save me, Heero!!!"

Quatre walked up to Relena and spoke, "Ms. Relena, please try to understand. We are doing this for your own good!"

"No you're not!!! You're just being mean, that's all!!!" Relena cried.

Quatre blushed, "I…I'm not mean….I don't hurt anyone…" he sat back down on the couch to think aloud, "I mean, I try to be polite….I do apologize before I kill someone…that's not being mean…right Trowa?" he looked up at Trowa, who nodded his head, "I'm…not a mean person…" Quatre said to himself as he stood back up.

"Zechs, go to time out, now!" Heero growled as he tried one last thing. He reached into his pants (!) and pulled out his gun.

"HEERO! NO!!!" Quatre and Relena cried out in unison.

"Hey! There's the gun!" Duo said as he peered past Milliardo's head.

"Ooh!!! Heero's going to shoot Mr. Milliardo???" Dorothy squealed.

"HEERO! PUT THAT DOWN!" Noin ordered.

Heero stood there glaring, with his gun pointed at Milliardo. 

"Well?" Milliardo said.

"Heero!" Quatre cried as he ran up to him, "WHAT DID I SAY??? NO GUNS!!! APPARENTLY NO ONE LISTENS TO MEEEE!!! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU ALL???" 

"Ooh!" Catherine said, "Is Quatre having another one of his little psychotic episodes?"

Hilde sweat-dropped, "Apparently so."

"Oh my goodness!" Relena said in shock, "Quatre??? Going insane??? I've never thought of that!!!"

"Neither have we. That is until about several months ago…" Sally sighed.

"WHY???" Quatre continued, "WHY WON'T YOU GUYS LISTEN TO MEEE???"

"Hey kid, are you ok?" Milliardo asked.

"QUIET!!!" Quatre screamed, "I..I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!! I'VE GOT TO GET OUT!!!" 

"Heeey!!!" Duo pointed, "That's what you said on the shuttle!"

"STOP IT!!! YOU'RE DRIVING EVERYONE INSANE!!! Heh." Quatre's expression changed.

Sally sighed, "Oh boy."

"Heh heh…" Quatre began laughing.

"Here we go!" Catherine said.

"Heh heh hee hee ha-"

"And the horror begins again…" Hilde said as they watched Quatre go insane.

"BWAH HA HA HA!!! I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!!! HA HA HA!!!" Quatre cried insanely.

"Bah!" Wufei said with his arms crossed, "There goes the madman!"

"Look whose talking," Sally muttered.

"Oh!!! How horrible!!!" Relena gasped as she watched Quatre laugh.

'Hey Helmet Man, you're going to protect me, ok?" Duo said as he patted Milliardo on top of his head. Milliardo growled in annoyance.

"Trowa, stop Quatre before he hurts himself!" Heero ordered.

Trowa stood up, shrugged and walked over to Quatre.

"Quatre," Trowa spoke.

Quatre turned around, the insaneness still there, "WHAT IS IT, TROWA???"

"Calm down before you hurt yourself." Trowa said.

"I…I CAN'T DO THAT, TROWA! I JUST CAN'T!!!" Quatre cried.

"Ooh! This is funny!" Dorothy giggled.

"Hey! Maybe you should go to time out!" Duo called out.

"Quatre! Calm down!!!" Noin cried out.

"I…I CAN'T!!! I JUST CAN'T DO IT!!!" Quatre wailed.

"Awwww…" Dorothy said as she ran up and gave him a hug. This was followed by a loud squeal by Quatre, which caused Dorothy to let go. Quatre, who had calmed down, stood there, blushing, with his eyes fixed on the wall in front of him. 

"I…I'm sorry everyone," Quatre said sadly, "I'll…go put my self in time out…" He slowly walked over to a corner, sat down and faced the wall.

Sally looked at her watch, "Woops! It's been twenty minutes!"

Duo got off of Milliardo, "Good boy!"

"Let's all get some rest." Trowa said as he walked upstairs. Everyone thought that it wasn't such a bad idea and followed.

About two hours later, everyone met downstairs in their formal attire.

"I'm still sleepy…" Duo said sleepily.

"I wanna open my presents." Heero suddenly said.

"I'm hungry." Trowa murmured.

"Where's Quatre?" Wufei looked around, "he's still not sitting in the corner…is he?"

A few minutes later, they found Quatre, asleep in the corner.

"Hey! Quatre!" Wufei shouted as he shook Quatre, "Our meal is ready!!!"

Quatre didn't wake up.

Heero stared at Quatre, then reached into his pocket and brought out a mini tape recorder. He fast-forwarded a few seconds, held it up to Quatre's ear and pressed play, "Hello, Quatre Raberba Winner! Tee hee!" Came the sound of a pre-recorded Dorothy clip. Quatre's eyes didn't open, "Heero," Quatre suddenly spoke.

Unsure of what to say, Heero simply said, "Yeah?"

"Can you get me a blanket and a pillow?" Quatre asked as he sat there with his eyes closed, "It gets kind of cold over here." Heero just stared at him.

"Quatre!" they heard Noin call. She ran into the room, "There you are! We were looking for you! Dinner's ready!"

Quatre opened his eyes, "Ok, I'll go um…wash up. I'll try to hurry." Quatre got up and ran upstairs. Everyone else returned to the dining hall. Sure enough, in five minutes, down came Quatre, clean and ready to eat, "Ok! Let's eat!" Everyone sat down and dinner began. Dinner was rather peaceful, and rather quick. As soon as the pilots were done eating, they asked to be excused and then sat around the Christmas tree.

"Only five more hours until Christmas," Quatre said.

"Yeah, but I can't wait!!!" Duo exclaimed.

"Me neither," Trowa said quietly.

Heero picked up his present again and once again, began inspecting the gift-wrapped box, "Hnnnn…the box…it's not cardboard…"

"Bah!" Wufei snorted, "You guys shouldn't waste your time trying to see through those boxes! Christmas will come eventually!"

"Heh, easy for you to say 'cause you don't have any presents!" Duo smirked.

"HA! That's what you think!" Wufei declared as he pointed to a large box, "Behold!"

Duo's jaw dropped, "But…but…crap. That's not fair…."

"Duo!" Hilde called, "We're going to dance! Come on!"

Duo got up and sighed, "Oh alright…come on, guys, let's go." The other pilots took another look at their presents and then followed Duo and Hilde to the ballroom.

"Ok everyone, as you all recall," Relena announced, "we had a slight problem with the music last time. After you all left, I got some more music, so now we have a more varied selection of music to dance to!" 

Duo nudged Quatre and snickered, "Heh, that means we get to choose between slow, classical music and really slow classical music!"

"Oh hush, Duo!" Quatre responded, "I like classical! It…calms you down…"

Relena pressed the play button and out blasted a fast paced disco style kind of music.

"What's this?" Duo cried in confusion, "Relena's a disco fan???"

"Apparently so." Wufei said as he pointed to Relena, "See for yourself." Lo and behold, there was Relena, dancing disco style to the music.

"Heero!" Relena called out, "Let's dance!" Heero grunted and walked over to Relena. The two then started dancing.

"Groovy, man." Duo muttered, "Howard would love this."

Soon everyone was dancing to the sounds of disco. 

When the song ended, Quatre struck the 'disco pose' and cried, "Disco feeevah! Yeah!!!" Everyone sweat-dropped. 

"Ok, no one saw that one coming." Catherine said to Trowa, who just shrugged. The next song was a mix of techno and jazz (Operation S, track 18, part one). After another half an hour of dance mixes, more disco, some heavy metal, jazz, and five minutes of country music, the music stopped. Relena ran up to her stereo and switched to her 'classical' C.D. Out came moderately slow classical music. 

She walked back to Heero, "Heero, now we can dance together."

Heero nodded and the two began dancing with each other. Relena sighed and rested her chin on Heero's shoulder as they waltzed slowly around the room.

"Stop stepping on my feet, woman!" Wufei hissed.

"Don't whisper in my ear like that!" Sally hissed back.

"Quatre," Dorothy said softly to Quatre, who seemed either entranced by them dancing or just paralyzed in fear, "are you…having fun?"

Quatre blushed, "Uh, yeah! Why wouldn't I be?"

"I ask that because you are holding me a little tight," Dorothy stared.

"Oops, oh my…I'm sorry!" Quatre said embarrassingly.

"Hey Trowa," Catherine said, "Why don't we switch partners, ok? I mean, it is rather embarrassing slow dancing with your little brother. No offense, Trowa."

Trowa shrugged, "Ok." He walked over to Dorothy and Catherine walked to Quatre. Dorothy noticed Trowa and sort of flung Quatre away, "Ooh! You want to dance?" Trowa nodded. Dorothy giggled, grabbed Trowa, and they found a place to dance.

"Come on, Quatre," Catherine smiled, "Let's dance!"

"Um, ok!" Quatre said as he was led off to another spot on the dance floor.

"Zechs," Noin whispered.

"Hm?" Milliardo said sleepily.

"Nothing." Noin smiled.

"Hm…" Milliardo grunted. They continued dancing until sometime around 10:00.

"Good night," Hilde said sleepily, "Come on, Duo, let's go to sleep…Duo? Duo!" Hilde ran to the darkened living room.She found Duo sitting by the tree, "Duo! Go to bed!"

"It's ok, you go ahead." Duo said.

"Duo, is something wrong?" Hilde asked as she walked up to him.

"No, everything's ok," Duo sighed.

"Then why don't you go to bed?" Hilde looked at Duo's back.

"I just want to stay here for a little bit longer." Duo said quietly.

"But—oh! You guys are here too?" Hilde said in surprise when she noticed the other pilots sitting around the tree, watching the lights flash.

"Hello, Ms. Hilde," Quatre said, "Would you like to join us?"

"Uh…well, I was trying to get Duo to go to bed," Hilde looked around.

"We're spending the night down here." Trowa spoke.

"Yeah, it was all Duo's idea," Wufei said, "He wanted to spend the night down here all by himself but we couldn't let him stay down here with all of the presents! Especially mine!"

"Heero? Are you in here?" Relena called into the room.

"He's over here." Hilde gestured. 

Relena walked over and knelt beside Heero, "Heero, why don't you come to bed? It'll get cold down here if you stay!"

Heero looked at her, "I want to stay here…with my friends. That is…if you don't…mind." If the room had been properly lit, Relena would have seen a slight hint of a blush on Heero's cheek.

Relena sat down, "Then, may I stay here too?" 

"Sure!" Quatre said happily.

Wufei stood up.

"Hey! Wu-Man!" Duo called after him, "Aren't you going to stay here?"

"Bah!" Wufei called back, "Where's your sense of tradition?"

Duo blinked, "Eh?"

Wufei continued, "In the past, the children always went to bed early just so they can wake up around four in the morning and run down the stairs, screaming like idiots on Christmas morning!"

"Oh." Trowa said as he stood up, "I forgot about that."

"Hey Trowa!" Quatre followed, "Wait up!" Eventually everyone was upstairs, asleep, or at least in bed. The only exception was of course, Milliardo, who was once again, shining his helmet.

"Zechs! Come to bed!" Noin called.

Milliardo rubbed the felt cloth over his helmet, "Hold on! I want my helmet to look pretty for Christmas day!"

Noin sighed and grabbed another pillow, "Fine, but hurry up!"

"Ok!" Milliardo quickened his pace to finish shining his helmet, all while humming his song to himself (Operation 4, track 4), "There! All done!" he carefully placed his helmet in the padded box and closed the lid, "Good night, helmet," he whispered as he turned off the light. Milliardo then crawled into bed, "Noin?" he said into the darkness.

"Huh, Zechs?" came Noin's reply.

Milliardo paused, "Merry Christmas…Eve." 

PART IV: WHAT EVERYONE DREAMED OF (and it wasn't about sugar plumes and fairies) 

Duo tossed around in his sleep and was dreaming some odd stuff. In his dream, he was downstairs before everyone else. Suddenly there was a noise and Duo saw some soot fall down into the fireplace. He eagerly ran to the fireplace, screaming, "It's Santa!" But instead, came a cloud of soot and a tall, dark figure that seemed too familiar, "Deathscythe? What are you doing here?" Deathscythe suddenly disappeared and the room was filled with presents, all with his name on it. Duo ran to the nearest box and was about to open it when he noticed that the name on the box was no longer his, it was Wufei's! He let out a yelp and grabbed another box. The same thing happened. He did this with all of the other boxes before letting out a cry of dismay.

Hilde dreamt of her being related to Noin and Trowa, which in turn, she was related to Catherine. They danced around in a circle, holding hands in a big meadow. Furthermore, Trowa was actually laughing! 

On the other side of the hall were Quatre and Dorothy. In Quatre's dream, he was having tea with Dorothy when all of a sudden, she turned into Treize. Quatre stared in horror at 'Treize'. Treize spoke in Dorothy's voice, "What's the matter Quatre? Am I frightening you with my eyebrows? Tee hee!" Then Treize giggled. All of a sudden, Treize became Milliardo, "Quatre? Are you ok?" Milliardo said, in Dorothy's voice. Milliardo then reached down and pulled out a pot and put it on his head, "Look at me! I'm the Helmet Man! Tee hee!" All of a sudden, the pot turned into Milliardo's helmet, which all of a sudden turned into the cardboard helmet Duo had made from a box the last time they were here. 

Meanwhile, Dorothy was dreaming of what life would be like if she had normal eyebrows. For some strange reason, this lead to a dream about what her life would be like if she married Milliardo. She was sitting on a couch with Milliardo when all of a sudden, someone, who looked a lot like a chibi Quatre, walked in and squeaked, "Hi, mommy!" As fate would have it, Quatre and Dorothy suddenly let out screams at that moment and awoke clutching each other. They quickly let go, thoroughly embarrassed and each scooted to one side of the bed and continued sleeping.

Next door slept Sally and Wufei. Now Wufei was having an odd dream. He dreamt that Treize was beating him in a duel, even though Treize was in a space Leo and Wufei was in Altron. All of a sudden, the Leo's beam saber sliced through Altron's side, the same way Wufei had cut into Tallgeese II. Wufei let out a scream and all of a sudden, he was being blown off of a cliff by Zechs with a snow blower. Wufei tumbled down into the infinite abyss. All of sudden, Wufei bolted up, covered in sweat. He looked over at Sally, who seemed rather content in her sleep. He muttered something before going back to sleep.

Sally, on the other hand, was having a rather amusing dream. In it, she was a sheepherder, wearing that Bo Peep outfit, with the cane and the cute little bonnet. However, the sheep she was herding weren't ordinary sheep. Instead they were sheep with Wufei's head and they kept screaming out all sorts of things at her, besides 'baaaaahhh!!!'. Sally would then shut them up by bonking them on the head.

Across the hall were Catherine and Trowa. Catherine seemed to have one of those recurring nightmares. In it, she and Trowa were performing at the circus and like always, she always did her knife throwing act and Trowa had to stand there while the knives barely hit him. This time, like all of the other times she'd had this dream, she'd hit Trowa with her knives repeatedly. Of course, when Trowa walked into the spotlight to take a bow, there were just holes in him. 

Trowa was having another'post dramatic stress syndrome' kind of dream. He dreamt that he was once again in Heavyarms and was busy blowing up stuff. And, like always, he ran out of ammo, so there stood Heavyarms, with no ammo, surrounded by Leos and Aires. Then Trowa pulled out Heavyarms' heat blade and began chopping up Leos. All of a sudden, there was this big blast and the Leos and Aires were vaporized. Trowa turned around to find Wing Zero and little insane Quatre inside, "Don't come any closer, Trowa!" Quatre cried out as he fired off a warning shot. However, the shot blew off Heavyarms' left arm. Quatre fired again and this time, Trowa saw not a big fireball coming towards him, but a knife. When the dust had settled from the explosion, he saw that Catherine, who was holding the Buster Rifle and a knife, had replaced Wing Zero. Trowa suddenly woke up. He sat up, ran his fingers through his bangs and went back to sleep.

Across the hall were Milliardo and Noin. Noin dreamt that her hair was replaced with 'Trowa-style' hair and that she, Trowa, and Hilde were siblings. They were spending a day at the park when all of a sudden, she saw Milliardo run up to them. On the other side, ran Quatre. The two guys stopped and pointed at each other, "Why are you here???" Then Milliardo went on to say that he was there first. Then Quatre said that he didn't care and that he was cuter than Milliardo so he should spend the day with Noin. Then the two got into a fistfight. All of a sudden, out from the bushes leapt the forty Maguanacs, who have come to aid their master. After a while, Milliardo gave up and left with Dorothy, who had suddenly appeared. Noin awoke and shuddered at the thought. 

Milliardo, on the other hand, was having one of those really frightening dreams, or at least, in his opinion it was a really frightening one. In it, he was in Tallgeese, fighting Wing Gundam (again), and he had his trusty helmet on. He was busy chopping away with the beam saber until Quince suddenly appeared on the screen, "Commander Milliardo, we have a situation- holy cow! Commander! What's that you're wearing on your head???" 

Milliardo pointed to his head in confusion, "What? This? It's my trusty helmet! It's what makes me Zechs Merquise, the Lightning Count!" 

Quince looked confused, "Are you sure a football helmet is appropriate for battle?"

Milliardo's eyes widened, "What???" He took off his helmet. Indeed it was a football helmet. He let out a cry of despair, just as Wing Gundam chopped Tallgeese in half. Milliardo's troubles weren't over though. He then found himself at an OZ meeting and everyone was staring at him. When someone, who appeared to be Otto, gestured to his head, Milliardo took off his helmet again, and to his horror, his helmet had been replaced by that cardboard helmet Duo had made the last time he was here, "NNNOOOOOOOO!!!!" All of a sudden, he spotted someone wearing a red uniform that looked freakishly a lot like his walk out the room. To Milliardo's horror and surprise, he seemed to have his helmet on his head! Milliardo got up and followed the guy. When he caught up to the person, Milliardo spun the guy around, "Hey man! Gimme back my helmet!" 

The guy looked at him in confusion and said, "huh? This thing's mine! See?" He pointed to the top of his helmet. Milliardo saw three silvery points sticking out from the top. 

"Hey man! What did you do to my helmet???" Milliardo screamed as he shook up the guy, "And where did you get that uniform??? It looks freakishly like mine! Only without the big white bird thing in the middle…hey wait…" Milliardo noticed the blond hair sticking out from underneath the helmet, "You…have blond hair…too???"

The guy shoved Milliardo off, "Hey…you! My name," He straightened his uniform, "is Char Aznable, and you my friend, are an imposter!"

Milliardo glared at Char, "What??? I'm Zechs Merquise! YOU'RE the imposter!" He grabbed Char's helmet and pulled it off. To his surprise, he found out that Char actually had a smaller mask covering his eyes, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY HELMET???" Milliardo screeched, "IT'S NOW IN TWO PIECES!!!"

Char grabbed the helmet from Milliardo's hands and put it back on his head, "IT'S SUPPOSED TO DO THAT!!!" Char walked off, leaving Milliardo there, staring at him in disbelief. Suddenly Milliardo was shaken awake by Noin.

"Zechs! Zechs! Are you ok???" Noin asked worriedly.

Milliardo blinked back tears, "Yeah, I'm…fine."

"Ok…you had me worried when you suddenly yelled out in your sleep!" Noin cried.

Milliardo blushed, "Oh…wait!" He jumped out of bed and ran to the table. He opened up the box and pulled out his helmet, "Oohhh…you're ok!!!" He hugged it. Noin sweat-dropped. Sometimes, she felt that he loved his helmet more than her, "Zechs, go back to sleep…" Milliardo grunted and took the helmet and its box with him back to bed. He ended up sleeping with the box cradled in his arms.

At the end of the hall were Heero and Relena. They slept in each other's arms and both, like everyone else, was having some sort of dream. 

In Relena's dream, she was queen of the world (again) and Heero was her king. Around her were her loyal subjects and what not. For example, Catherine was the royal chef and Duo, Trowa, and Wufei were the court jesters, much to her amusement. Relena would spend her day giving speeches on world peace, and Heero would be there by her side, supporting her. In the afternoon, she would walk in the garden with her royal maids, such as Sally, Hilde, and Noin. Heero would be there too. They would live happily ever after. She somehow forgot to add Milliardo and Dorothy in the picture.

Heero was having a dream similar to Trowa's. In his dream, he had received orders from Dr. J to destroy an OZ base. Heero proceeded there with Wing Zero (he left Wing Gundam behind). He was merrily blowing things away, when all of a sudden, the sensors picked up something unusual. Heero zoomed in with the cockpit's sensors and saw Relena, dancing around in a white dress with a crown of daisies on her head and she was carrying a basket. Heero watched as Relena danced around, tossing flowers, and singing, "Peace and love for everyone!" When a flower landed on a Leo, it just simply disintegrated (remember the episode of 'The Simpsons' with N'SYNC and the boy band?)Heero watched in shock as Relena vaporized several more Leos with her 'flowers of peace'. Then he saw a flower flying towards his Gundam He quickly pointed the Buster Rifle and vaporized the flower. All of a sudden, the ashes turned into six chibi Relenas, who began tossing flowers in all directions. Heero began blasting away at the flowers but his efforts were in vain. The more flowers he shot down, the more Relenas popped up. Eventually, a swarm of flowers landed on Wing Zero and disintegrated the seemingly indestructible mobile suit, leaving Heero surrounded by Relenas, which soon crowded around him…

PART V: CHRISTMAS DAY 

** **

Eventually, the time had come. Everyone bolted out of bed around five in the morning to run downstairs to open presents.

"Hilde!!!" Duo cried as he leapt out of bed, "Come on!!!" He ran out the door.

Hilde sat up and rubbed her stomach, "Ooh…not again…" Apparently, his leg must have been on her stomach the whole night. She slowly got out of bed.

"WAAGGH!!! IT'S THE DAY OF PRESENTS!!!" Wufei shouted as he and Sally both sat up in bed. Unfortunately, they just happened to stretch at the same time and they knocked each other out of the bed.

"Ok, so we're even." Sally said as they rushed to the door. Unfortunately, they tried to run through the door at the same time and they were stuck, "Hey! Wufei! Move!"

"I can't, woman! You're in the way!!!" Wufei shouted back. As they struggled to get free, people rushed past them.

"Come on, Quatre! Let's hurry! Tee hee!" Dorothy giggled as she dragged half asleep Quatre to the stairs. Duo was the first one downstairs.

"Yay! Presents!" Duo cried happily, "Huh? Trowa?" He saw Trowa sitting on the couch, playing with his new Heavyarms action figure.

"Merry Christmas." Trowa said as he fitted the double-gatling gun on the left arm.

"Cool! Now we can play with action figures!" Duo said as he searched for his presents.

Meanwhile, Catherine sat up, "Huh? Trowa? Where are you??? Oh! What's this?" She looked over at Trowa's spot. There, lying on where he slept was a little gift-wrapped box. Underneath was a little folded sheet of paper. She opened the folded sheet of paper, "To my simple-minded sister," she read, "Merry Christmas, love Trowa/Triton." Catherine then proceeded to open up the box and as expected, she found a twenty-dollar gift card. 

Meanwhile, Relena had just woken up and she swung her legs out of bed. Her foot touched something warm and she looked down. There on the floor, was Heero, still asleep, and holding a pillow. Relena smiled and leaned towards Heero, "Heero," she said softly, "Wake up, it's Christmas morning!"

"Merry Christmas," came Heero's muffled voice from behind the pillow, "I'll go get your present." He stood up, handed the pillow to Relena, and walked over to his bag. He rummaged through his bag for several seconds before pulling out a small box. He walked back over to Relena and sat down next to her, "Here." 

Relena took it and slowly opened her present. It was a small, blue velvet box that was usually used for holding jewelry. She gingerly opened the box and gasped when she saw the ring inside, "Heero…"

Heero stared at the box, "It…matches your eyes…That's why I got them."

Relena let out a happy cry and flung her arms around Heero's neck, "Thank you, Heero," she whispered, "Oh! I almost forgot! I have a present for you too!"

Heero stared at her, "I know."

Back downstairs, Sally and Wufei had just arrived downstairs, as did Milliardo and Noin.

"Ha ha!" Wufei said as he marched over to the large box that held his present, "Today is the day!" he sat down and tore open the box, "Huh? A printer???" 

"Open the box!" Sally said to Wufei. He nodded and opened the box. Inside, was a smaller box.

"INJUSTICE!!!" Wufei cried.

"Shut up and keep opening it!" Sally smiled as she slapped him on the back.

"Bah!" Wufei retorted, "Do you take me as a fool? If I open the box, there will be an even smaller box inside! And once I've opened the last box, I'll find a note saying that there is no present for me!"

Sally was taken aback, "Hey! I wouldn't do something that mean!"

Wufei raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure?"

Duo sat down, "Fine! I'll open it!" He began opening the many boxes that got smaller each time the box was opened. Finally, he reached a really small box. He opened it up and found a little note.

"Ha! What did I tell you?" Wufei said triumphantly. 

Duo read the note, "Wufei, Mary X-Mas?" He turned to Sally, who shrugged.

"Uh, oops?" Sally blushed, "Keep reading!"

Duo continued, "If you want your present, look in the turn page over," Duo flipped to the other side of the note, "go look in the envelope that was taped to the bottom of the fourth box." Duo tossed the note aside and searched for a box he thought would come in fourth. He looked underneath it and there was the note. He handed the box to Wufei, "Here, Merry Christmas, Wu-Man."

"Thanks." Wufei muttered as he carefully opened the envelope. Inside was a check. His eyes widened as he read the amount, "WAH HA HA HA!!! AT LAST! JUSTICE HAS PREVAILED!!! I GOT A PAY RAISE!!!"

Sally narrowed her eyes and sweat-dropped, "Hey Wufei, don't get too happy."

Wufei stopped dancing around, "What do you mean???" he demanded.

Sally shrugged, "Well, you see, it's kind of like a …oh um…Christmas bonus? We all got one."

Wufei's eyes widened even more, "So you're saying…you stole MY paycheck and used it for MY present???"

Sally patted him on the head, "Good boy! You're smarter than the average person!"

Wufei turned red with rage, "THIS IS TRULY INJUSTICE!!! HOWEVER…since this IS Christmas, I shall postpone my rants until further notice!"

"Hurray!" Quatre clapped.

"Here you go!" Hilde smiled as she handed Duo a little box, "Merry Christmas!"

"Ooh! For me???" Duo smiled back as he opened the box. Inside was a Duobat doll, "Ooh!!! Now…" he reached into his pocket and pulled out an identical doll, "he'll have a buddy!"

Hilde sweat-dropped, "Um…Duo, I…I didn't know…"

Duo shrugged, "Hey! It's ok! Besides, mine's actually a key chain! See?" He handed his original doll to Hilde who saw the chain, the ring and the house key.

"Oh…" Hilde said. 

Duo perked up, "Oh! And here's yours!" He handed her a small box. She opened up the box and found the same Duobat doll inside. She sweat-dropped again, "Oh my…it's…the same one that I gave you…"

Duo nodded and smiled, "Yep! Now you can have your own doll!"

Meanwhile, Relena and Heero had finally gotten downstairs. Relena rushed to the tree, picked up the non-cardboard box and handed it to Heero, "Here you go, Heero! Merry Christmas!" 

Heero opened the lid and found a chunk of metal, painted blue. An edge was slightly burned and some of the paint had come off. Heero recognized it immediately, "Wing…" he said softly in disbelief as he stared at the little chunk.

"Um, do you like it?" Relena asked gingerly.

"Wing…" Heero repeated as he continued staring at it.

"What is it?" Quatre asked as he looked into the box.

"It's a piece of-" Relena began.

"Wing…" Heero interrupted.

"Oh my!" Quatre exclaimed, "Wing Zero!!! You mean you got a chunk of Wing Zero???"

Relena blushed, "Um, yes. I…obtained from Duo who found it in his big junk pile behind his house."

Duo shrugged, "I got Leo bits too!"

"Thanks…" Heero said as he held the chunk of Gundanium in his hand. He paused to give Relena a hug and a little kiss and slapped Duo on the back, "Merry Christmas…buddy."

Duo's eyes widened, "Heeeey!!! That's my…term, buddy!"

Milliardo suddenly walked up to Duo and handed him a box, "Here, kid."

Duo sweat-dropped, "Uh…thanks," On the box, scribbled in pen were the words 'To: Braided Guy From Helmet Man'. Duo opened the box and laughed when he saw what was inside, "Ha ha!! Cool! It's my helmet that I made last time we were here!!!" He put it on, "Look at me! I'm Zechs Merquise, the Helmet Man!"

"You're pushing it, kid," Milliardo growled.

"Lighten up, Zechs!" Noin smiled as she handed him his present, "Merry Christmas, dear!"

Milliardo smiled weakly and opened the box. Inside was a picture of him and Noin, standing under Tallgeese III, the day after Mariemaia's insurrection. The photo was inside a platinum frame, "Noin…I…oh. I have a present for you." He searched through the pile of presents and pulled out a plain box with its top taped shut. He blushed as he handed it to her, "Uh, sorry. I didn't have time to wrap it."

Noin smiled as she took the box, "You're lying. You just can't wrap a present, that's all."

Milliardo sweat-dropped, "Yeah…that too."

Noin smiled again and opened the box. Inside was a little Taurus figurine and a little note, or so she thought. When she read the note, Noin gasped, "Zechs, you mean there's…more to my present???"

Milliardo blushed, "Uh, yeah."He left the room for a minute. When he came back, he handed her a smaller box, "Um, here, have fun."

"What's this? Another unwrapped box?" Noin said in mock surprise.

"Yeah." Milliardo managed to say.

Noin opened the little box. What she saw made her gasp. It was a sapphire ring and necklace.

"Uh…what's with all of the jewlry?" Duo asked Wufei.

Wufei shrugged, "Maybe it's a woman thing."

Noin threw her arms around Milliardo and cried with joy, "Oh thank you, Zechs!"

Milliardo staggered a bit from the sudden weight that was put on him, "You're welcome, Noin." He managed to say as he hugged her back.

"Awwww…" Dorothy grinned as she watched the two. She then turned to Quatre, "Oh Quatre! Come here! I have a little something for you! Tee hee!"

Quatre was caught off guard, "Uh…really? Um, I uh…have something for you too!" He reached into his pocket and handed her a twenty-dollar gift card. He blushed, "Uh, heh heh, Merry Christmas, Dorothy…"

Dorothy grinned deviously. She leaned forward and kissed him. This caused Quatre to stiffen up. After she was done, she took the card and patted Quatre on the head. Quatre remained paralyzed in either shock or disbelief.

"Oh…my…" Quatre stuttered as he stood there, face all red.

After thirty more minutes, all of the present giving and receiving was done with. Everyone formed little groups and admired each other's gifts. This lasted only ten minutes, since everyone became hungry. Everyone went upstairs to change and they all met in the dining hall a few minutes later.

"So, what's for breakfast?" Milliardo asked.

"Food." Heero grumbled as they walked to the kitchen.

"Hey! Heero's finally getting a sense of humor!" Duo said happily as he slapped Heero on the back.

Relena smiled, "We're so proud of you, Heero!"

Heero paused before answering, "Merry Christmas."

Breakfast consisted of toast or waffles, scrambled eggs, and bacon.

"Trowa!!!" Catherine cried in shock, "Don't drink so much coffee!!! Too much is bad for you!!!"

"No it isn't." Trowa replied as he sipped his fifth cup, "Too much is bad for other people, not me."

Catherine sighed, "Well, at least save some for the other people."

After breakfast, everyone went back to admiring each other's presents.

Heero spent most of the morning polishing his little chunk of Wing Zero.

"Now you know how I feel," Milliardo said as he sat next to Heero and began polishing his helmet.

"Yeah." Heero responded.

Meanwhile, the ladies were comparing their presents, which mostly consisted of jewelry or a gift card in Catherine's case and a little Duobat plushy in Hilde's.

"Ooh!!! It's so pretty!" Hilde said as she admired a set of earrings Wufei had given Sally.

"I think that Duobat toy is soooo cute!" Catherine squealed as she examined it, "I wonder if they make any Trowa figures?"

Sally smirked, "I doubt it if they'll want to make Wufei figures!"

"Aw, that's mean!" Catherine said.

Sally shrugged, "Hey, I wouldn't want to be made into an action figure or a stuffed toy!"

Noin smiled, "I can picture it now. A Wufei figure that can do a karate-chop when you press a button on his back."

Hilde joined in, "Yeah! Or maybe one of those pull-string dolls! You pull the string and it says one of Wufei's little quotes!"

"Injustice! You are evil!" Sally said in an attempt to mimic Wufei. The ladies burst out laughing.

"Ooh! An exploding Heero doll!" Dorothy giggled, " Or a life-sized Heero action figure! Tee hee!"

Relena didn't seem to like the idea of an exploding toy but she did seem to like the life-sized figure, though, "Hm, I wonder how much those life-sized figures would cost." She wondered aloud.

Eventually lunch came. Everyone took a quick break to grab something to eat. After that, they went back to admiring each other's presents. This continued throughout the whole afternoon and into the evening.

"Duo!" Hilde called, "Come on! We gotta go wash up! Dinnner's in half an hour!"

"Hold on! We're almost done!" Duo called back.

"You die." Trowa suddenly said.

Duo turned around, "What??? How???" he asked in bewilderment.

"My chest gatling shot down your buster shield," Trowa explained, "Then I used the beam gatling on the left arm to blow you up."

"But…but…what about Quatre???" Duo cried.

Quatre sweat-dropped, "Uh…I was on Trowa's side!"

"That's no fair!!! I thought it was a three-way battle!" Duo pouted.

"Duo!" he heard Hilde yell, "Stop playing with your action figures and wash up!"

Duo gathered the little buster shield, beam scythe, and the Deathscythe Hell figure and walked upstairs, "See ya guys at dinner!"

"Ok!" Quatre called back, "C'mon Trowa! We'd better get ready too!" Quatre scooped up his Sandrock figure and walked upstairs.

Trowa shrugged and grabbed Heavyarms.

Ten minutes later, everyone assembled in the dining hall, dressed in their finest clothing.

When everyone was seated, Duo stood up, "Ok, uh…attention everybody!" Everyone turned their attention to Duo, "Uh, ok, since this is Christmas, it is customary to give thanks, no that's not it…uh…yeah! Uh…oh! I got it now! Duh!!!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, "Ok, good evening, ladies and gentlemen," Duo read, "As you all know, thirteen years ago—what?"

Quatre whispered, "It's three, Duo!"

Duo sweat-dropped, "Oh, uh yeah. Anyways, two years ago, I mean three! I'm sorry! I can't read Quatre's handwriting!" Everyone sweat-dropped. After another brief pause, Duo continued, "Three years ago on this day, the big war that all of us fought in ended. Lots of people died. One of them was Treize Khushrenada. Although few of us actually have met and liked this guy," some eyes shifted to an uneasy Wufei, "he was well liked and respected by his followers. And so, to be courteous, let us take a moment of silence to remember him." Silence fell upon the room. Quatre suppressed a sneeze. After several seconds, Duo spoke again, "Ok, I'm done." He sat down and Heero stood up.

"A year after the great war, an insurrection led by Mariemaia Khushrenada and Dekim Barton arose." Heero spoke from memory, "Once again, we came to the earth's defense. We succeeded but our Gundams were destroyed since they were no longer necessary." He sat down.

Quatre stood up, "Um, let us take another moment to remember the Gundams who helped save the world." During the moment of silence, Wufei dabbed his eye with a napkin when no one was looking. Or so he thought. Instead, he felt Sally reach over and hold his hand. 

After Quatre sat down Wufei stood up, "We have then learned from this war and we hope that the peace lasts forever...OK! I ADMIT IT!" Wufei cried out suddenly, "I DO MISS TREIZE! He was a…fine opponent to duel with." He sat down.

Trowa stood up, "Let us now forget the sadness and look to the happiness. This is Christmas, after all." He raised his glass in a toast. Everyone followed. After Trowa sat down, Relena stood up.

"Everyone, I would like to say thank you for your efforts in helping to bring peace to this world." Relena spoke, "Also, I would like the thank you boys for that little speech. Um, since I cannot think of anything else to say at this moment, let's eat!"

"Hear, hear!" Milliardo called out.

"Hear, hear?" the pilots thought as they sweat-dropped.

Dinner consisted of the Christmas ham, mashed potatoes, and other foods. After eating, everyone went to the ballroom for another dance.

"Wufei," Sally said, "I know how you feel about…your Gundam."

"Thanks for the sympathy," Wufei said quietly. 

Relena walked over to the stereo. She pressed the play button and out came Christmas carols.

"Uh, we're supposed to dance to Christmas carols?" Quatre asked.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells…" Trowa sang softly.

"Let's dance, Trowa! Tee hee!" Dorothy giggled as she dragged him off.

"Oh dear…" Quatre sighed, "Now where's Catherine?" He walked off to find Catherine.

"Heero?" Relena whispered in his ear, "Are you all staying for New Years' too?"

Heero was waiting for that to come, "…yeah…"

Relena smiled and closed her eyes as they continued dancing.

"Uh, we're staying for New Years' right?" Wufei asked Sally.

Sally nodded, "Yep, it's not over yet!"

END OF PART 2

To be concluded…

Reviews would be nice!


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